NO. 1304. REVISION OF AMERICAN GELECHIID MOTHS— BUSCK. 771 



7 to costa; vein 1)) furcate at base. Hindwing's normally with 8 veins, 

 exceptionalh" with only 7 or 6 b}^ veins 6 and 5 being obsolete; vein 8 

 more or less distinctly connected with the cell by a cross vein. The 

 form of the hindwing is more or less trapezoidal, termen is usually 

 sinuate or emarginate below apex. 



This last character is always diagnostic when present, as it is not 

 found outside of this family. In the few more generalized genera, 

 where the termen is not sinuate, veins 7 and 6 in the hindwings are 

 approximate, connate, or stalked, thereby diflering from the nearest 

 allied family Oecophm'ldx^ 



The larvae of Gelechiidte exhibit great differences in coloration and 

 hal)its. Normally they have three pairs of thoracic feet, live pairs of 

 a])dominal j^rolegs, and feed in folded or spun leaves or shoots or in 

 stems or seed heads. Less commonly they are leaf miners. 



They spin a cocoon, and the pupa does not protrude when the imago 

 emerges. The pupa has segments 9-11 free. 



In separating the genera in the Gelechiidte the wing venation and 

 the characters of the labial palpi are especially emplo^ved; of these the 

 former is by far the most important. 



While differently modified palpi and other external characters, as 

 moditications of the antenna^ the presence or absence of raised scales, 

 or hair pencils of different forms, may indicate generic differences, they 

 are far less reliable than the venation, and only to be taken into con- 

 sideration in connection with it. 



These external characters are more apt to be moditied by changed 

 life habits or other influences in the adaptation to environments, but 

 the venation will only undergo changes slowly through a long period 

 of evolution, and is consequentl}^ more important in the determination 

 of genera. This is strikingly illustrated by ffnding the identical char- 

 acteristic tufted palpi in different families; in Yjmdop/iK.'i andLeucein 

 the Gelechiida% in Euiiieiivlchla in the Q^cophoridte, and in Plutella in 

 the Plutellida\- 



The raised scales on the forewings are found here and there in all 

 the families, while the hair pencil in the male at the base of the hind- 

 wings, used as the sole character by Lord Walsingham to distinguish 

 his genus Eucatoptm from Aridotelia is found in several Gelechiid 

 genera, and is not constant within these. 



Even such a specialized modification as the antennal notch found in 

 Glyphipdocera and Anoi'thosla in the Gelechiida> recurs again in the 



'As defined by Meyrick in his Handbook of British Lepidoptera. 



^Tliis might at a superficial view appear to prove just the opposite, and the palpi 

 be claimed to be the persistent character while the venation had undergone changes; 

 but it is very evident from the relationship, or rather lack of relationship, that this 

 is not the case and that the tufted palpi are developed independently in the different 

 families. 



