FAMILY DIOPTID/E 
“ Genius detects through the fly, through the caterpillar, through the 
grub, through the egg, the constant individual; through countless indi¬ 
viduals the fixed species, through many species the genus, through all 
genera the steadfast type; through all the kingdoms of organized life the 
eternal unity.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
The moths belonging to this family are, so far as is known, 
closely related in many respects to the Geometridce. They differ, 
however, in having veins 3 and 4 of the hind wing arising from 
a common stalk at the lower angle of the cell. The family is 
well represented in the tropics of the New World, but is only 
known in our territory by the genus Phryganidia Packard, 
which occurs in southern California. 
Genus PHRYGANIDIA Packard 
(1) Phryganidia californica Packard, Plate XXXVIII, 
Fig. 6, $ . 
The moth, which is obscurely colored, is one of the least 
attractive insects belonging to the family which it represents. 
Many of the species are very bright and gay in color, as any 
student of the fauna of South America knows. The home of 
the species, as the name implies, is California, to the southern 
portion of which it is confined. 
“ Happy insect, what can be 
In happiness compared to thee ? 
Fed with nourishment divine, 
The dewey morning’s gentle wine ! 
Nature waits upon thee still, 
And thy verdant cup does fill; 
’Tis filled wherever thou dost tread 
Nature’s self thy Ganymede. 
“ Thou dost drink and dance and sing, 
Happier than the happiest king ! 
All the fields which thou dost see, 
All the plants belong to thee, 
All the summer hours produce, 
Fertile made with early juice, 
Man for thee does sow and plough, 
Farmer he, and landlord thou.” 
From the Greek of Anacreon. 
291 
