1136 REVISION OF AUSTRALIAN LEPIDOPTERA, 



sinuate rather irregular white streak from apex, or close beneath it^ 

 to midway between apex of discal streak and anal angle, more or 

 less dilated in middle, lower portion sometimes interrupted to form 

 two or three spots ; in ^ all white markings are much reduced or 

 entirely absent : cilia dark fuscous. Hindwings fuscous ; cilia 

 dark fuscous. 



Sydney, New South "Wales ; in April and May, sometimes 

 common at gas-lamps. Larva subterranean, feed nig on the roots 

 of trees, sometimes at a considerable depth ; it was eaten for food 

 by the natives. 



MONOCTENIADAE. 



No maxillary palpi. Fore wings with vein 1 simple, 5 rising 

 from transverse vein not nearer to 4 than to 6, 7 and 8 out of 9. 

 Hindwings with vein Ic absent ; 5 from middle of transverse 

 vein, 8 closely approximated to upper margin of cell from near 

 base to middle of cell or beyond, rarely fused with it at a point 

 near base, or {Hypograi^lia) anastomosing with margin of cell. 



This family I have elsewhere called Oenochromidae, but as the 

 genus Oenochroma proves on examination to be non-existent, being 

 only a synonym of Monoctenia, I consider it necessary to change 

 the name accordingly. The family belongs to the Geometrina, 

 and is of great interest as being apparently the most ancestral 

 section of that group. With the Larentiadae and Boarmiadae it 

 cannot be confused structurally (see however Hypograjolia) ; with 

 the Geometridae and Desmohathridae also no difficulty can arise 

 except in the case of those exceptional genera in which vein 8 of 

 the hindwings is fused with the cell at a point near base ; 

 from these the Geometridae differ in that vein 8 after fusion 

 immediately diverges rapidly from the cell, whilst in the Monoc- 

 teniadae it continues close to it and approximately parallel ; in 

 the Desmohathridae vein 8 is not fused with the cell-margin but 

 connected with it by a well-marked and distinct bar, but no doubt 

 the genetic relation here runs close, the two families being really 

 united developmentally through these very genera or others nearly 



