740 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The main line includes such forms as Pfiaon, Mnai.^^ CaJoptery.r 

 (fig. 34), NeHrohas/s (fig. 43), and Vestalh (fig. 41), m which the 

 tendenc}^ is toward further vein adjustment without nuich furtlier 

 vein differentiation; attaching sectors to principal veins, tuid widening 

 the wing distally, losing the stigma. 



Tlior'uise,. — Another t^^pe of venation is found in Tliore (fig. 35) and > 

 its allies, a very circumscribed group, comprising but a few South 

 American genera. De Selys long ago set this group apart upon an 

 excellent venational character, i. e., the media does not descend thei 

 arculus at all. To this may be added, the media departs from tli(> 

 ai'cnlus in lin(> with its branch J/i, while J/, arches strongly from its: 

 posterior side, thus making a unilateral fork which is in position the 



reverse of that of the VestaliucT. 

 The longest of the sectors be-v 

 tween veins J/j and JSL^ closely- 

 parallels vein J/j, with all the ' 

 shorter sectors behind it. The <■■ 

 hasal curvature of vein M^ makes 

 the quadrangle concave anteri- 

 orl}", and widest at the proximal 

 end. There is an odd diti'er- 

 entiation between quadrangles 

 of fore and hind wings, that of 

 the latter becoming twice the 

 length of that of the former. In 

 Cora (fig. 36) vein Cu^^ is almost 

 simple; in Tliore^ Euthore, and 

 Chalcopteryx it is symmetrically 

 forked just be3'Ond the quad- 

 rangle. 



While in this group a form 

 and general aspect of wing much 

 like that of the typical Calop- 

 teryginse has been developed, a 

 comparison of the venational characters will show that the means 

 employed have been almost diametrically opposite. 



Some synthetic types. — In Plate XLI, fig. 3, there is shown a new 

 figure of the nuich-discussed Pdlxoi^ldehia snperstes Selys, from Ja- 

 pan — fore and hind wing of a female specimen, photo-enlarged. It 

 is b}' no means easy to indicate the nearest relationship of this isolated ) 

 species. "Wing characters, like other characters, are contradictory. It 

 agrees with the Lestinte and with the more generalized members of 

 de Selys's heterogeneous and untenable Legion Podagrion in the form 

 of the stigma and arrangement of cross veins behind it, and in the 

 arrangement of the interpolated sectors in the space between veins 

 J/j and J^, and also in the obliquely placed quadrangles. It agrees 

 furthoi- with Lestina> in the possession of a long bridge terminated 



Fig. 35.— Base op wings of Thore gifjantca Sel. 



