20 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 244 



phylogenetic tendencies. Usually included within the Micro-Psychina 

 are such genera as Natycia, Diplodoma (in which the females are fully 

 winged), Luffia, Taleporia, Solenobia, and several others. The 

 Macro-Psychina, which is the larger group, commences with such 

 genera as Fumaria (=Fumea) and Epichnopterix and includes the more 

 advanced psychids. 



Some authors (e.g., Meyrick, Stainton) have radically separated 

 these two divisions, placing the Micro-Psychina in the Tineidae and 

 the Macro-Psychina in the Bombycoidea. Packard (1895), although 

 dividing the Psychidae into two families (Talaeporidae and Psychidae) , 

 emphasized theh close relationship and believed that these two groups 

 represented a natural series evolving directly from the Tineidae. 

 Hampson (1893), like Meyrick and others previous, placed the Micro- 

 Psychina with the Tineidae but realized the former were closely related 

 to the higher forms. The Psychidae, as thus recognized, were divided 

 by Hampson into five subfamilies. A few of these (e.g., Chaliinae) 

 were based on very artificial characters that have since proved 

 unreliable. 



Tutt (1900) believed that the bagworms represented one superfamily 

 and he included several families that, under present day concepts, 

 probably would be considered no more than tribes. Ford (1945), in 

 one of the more recent discussions on this subject, likewise remarks 

 that one superfamily is represented here; he adds that this group has 

 "no close relation to other Lepidoptera from which they branched off 

 in very early tunes." 



The adult female has become specialized along different lines and 

 at a correspondingly dissimilar rate than the male. This phenomenon 

 accoimts for the lack of correlation between certain fundamental 

 characters of the male and female. If the characters of the female are 

 emphasized in selecting the primary divisions of the family, then a 

 classification different from that derived on the basis of the adult male 

 results. Because the male is more conservative than the female in 

 this family, at least equal if not greater emphasis should be placed on 

 the male in deciding fundamental relationships. 



Forbes (1923) reiterated the common belief that the psychids were 

 linked closely to the lowest tineoids and divided the group into three 

 subfamilies. Included in his most primitive subfamily (Lypusinae) 

 are those bagworms possessing winged females and very distinct palpi. 

 Forbes rather dubiously has referred one North American insect, 

 KearfoUia alhajasciella Fern aid, to this group, largely on the basis of 

 the anal hair tuft present on the female abdomen; indeed, this tuft 

 is very similar to that of Narycia. Kearfotiia, however, diverges 

 from these prunitive psychids in certain features (especially in the 

 male and female genitalia) that show closer affinities to the Tineidae. 



