477 



DESCRIPTIONS OF AUSTRALIAN MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA. 

 By E. Meyrick, B.A., F.Z.S. 



XVI. TINEIDAE. 



The investigations which I made for the purpose of this paper 

 have led me to extend the limits of the family Tineidae beyond 

 those which I originally contemplated and have elsewhere used, 

 thus including within it the smooth-faced genera previously 

 separated as the Argyresthiadae, those with up-turned apex of 

 forewings for which I formed the family Erechthiadae, and the 

 rough-headed genera with antennal eyecaps formerly classed as 

 Lyoneiiadae ; the latter term I would now restrict to the smooth- 

 headed genera with antennal eyecaps. The reason for this course 

 is that I find it impossible to maintain an accurate line of 

 demarcation between these groups, the characters not being con- 

 stantly preserved. They do however constitute natural groups, 

 with structural distinctions which are usually though not invariably 

 maintained, and may be conveniently regarded as subfamilies, if 

 rigidity of definition is not insisted on. 



As now defined, the family includes nearly all the rough-headed 

 Tineina. The Microjjterygidae and Neptictdidae, which are also 

 rough-headed, differ from it, the former by the primitive neuration 

 of the hindwings, which have eleven or more veins, instead of the 

 normal eight, and the latter (which is probably a direct develop- 

 ment of the Micropterygidae, with very degraded neuration,) by 

 the eighteen-legged larva. The Gracilariadae are normally 

 smooth-headed, but some genera have rough heads ; these are 

 distinguishable by the fourteen-legged larvae, and can also be 

 separated from those genera of Tineidae with degraded neuration 



