4 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 244 



research in this family; I am very grateful for having received this 

 award. Considerable appreciation must be given to Dr. J. F. Gates 

 Clarke, who first suggested this problem and helped promote and 

 encourage my research, and to staff members of the United States 

 National Museum for the many services they have extended me. 



I wish to thank Dr. J. G. Franclemont, under whose guidance this 

 work was performed, for his valuable advice concerning the manu- 

 script and many perplexing problems, Dr. H. E. Moore, Jr., and Dr. 

 J. A. Weidhaas, who also were very helpful in reading and criticizing 

 the paper. 



My sincerest appreciation is extended also to the following ento- 

 mologists and the institutions or firms they represent for their coopera- 

 tion in the loan of material: Dr. Harold J. Grant, Jr., Academy of 

 Natural Sciences; Dr. Frederick H. Eindge, American Museum 

 of Natural History; Mr. Alan Watson, British Museum (Natural 

 History); Dr. C. Don MacNeil, California Academy of Sciences; 

 Mr. George T. Okumura, California Department of Agriculture; 

 Dr. Thomas N. Freeman, Canadian National Collection; Mr. Harry 

 Clench, Carnegie Museum; Dr. Giinter Petersen, Deutsches Ento- 

 mologisches Institut; Dr. Frank W. Mead, Florida State Plant 

 Board; Dr. Ronald W. Hodges; Mr. Charles P. Kimball; Mr. Paul 

 Koehler; Dr. Richard B. Selander, Illmois State Natural History 

 Survey; Michigan State University; Dr. W. T. M. Forbes, Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology; Drs. Pierre Viette and Jean Bourgogne, 

 Museum National d'Histohe Naturelle; Dr. A. Diakonoff, Rijks- 

 museum van Natumiijke Historic; Dr. Heinz Schroder, Sencken- 

 bergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft; Mr. Clyde Stephens, United 

 Fruit Company; Dr. Wilbur R. Enns, University of Missouri; Dr. 

 W. Forster, Zoologische Sammlung der Bayerischen Staates; Dr. 

 H. J. Hannemann, Zoologisches Museum der Humbolt-Universitat. 



Finally I would like to express my gratitude to my sister, Miss 

 Carole Davis, for her services in typing the first di'af t of the manuscript. 



Review of the Literature 



The first pubhshed account of members of this family that defi- 

 nitely mhabit the Western Hemisphere was issued in 1827 by the 

 Rev. Lansdown Guilding, who lived for several years on the island 

 of St. Vmcent in the Lesser Antilles. While residing there, he con- 

 tributed a few short reports dealing with West Indian biology. In 

 one, he described a new genus of psychid, Oiketicus, and two new 

 species, kirbyi (q.v.) and macleayi, which he attributed to the West 

 Indies. 



