﻿Dec. 1895.] DVAR AND MoRTON. NeW YoRK SlUG CATERPILLARS. 14T 



the synonymy. The name Eucleidse was proposed in the works of 

 Messrs. Neumoegen and Dyar and of Professor J. H. Comstock. The 

 term Apodidse of Mr. Grote (Syst. Lep. Hild. 1895) is synonymous 

 as is also the term Heterogeneidce of Mr. Meyrick (Handb. Brit. Lep. 

 18950 



General Characters. 



-Eg.i^s. The eggs of the several species of Eucleidae do not offer 

 specific differences, as a rule. The shell is very thin, skin-like, not 

 •distinctly ornamented. The egg is elliptical in outline and greatly 

 flattened, so much so as scarcely to present a measurable thickness (to 

 the naked eye), at least when freshly laid. They are deposited singly 

 or in groups, in the latter case overlapping like the shingles on a roof. 

 This type of egg is found in other groups of the Microlepidoptera, and 

 refers the Eucleidae to this superfamily. 



Larva. The head is modified from the type usual in Lepidoptera 

 in lacking in all that portion of the corneous case above the clypeus the 

 usual hard character. It is withdrawn under joint 2, which folds over 

 it like a hood. Joint 2 is more or less completely withdrawn under 

 joint 3, and is usually unornamented, so that the first segment com- 

 pletely visible from above, and the one on which the various markings 

 commence is joint 3 (the mesothoracic segment). The prothoracic 

 shield is present, but more or less rudimentary and always functionless. 

 The segments are of the usual number, thirteen, the last one small and 

 not showing its compound nature by a constriction, as is often the case 

 in the lower Microlepidoptera. All the segments are closely united, 

 the separating incisures often very obscure and difficult to distinguish. 

 The body is flattened by the reduction of the feet and subventral area; 

 in general outline elliptical, the dorsum arching more or less, as the 

 height is considerable or the reverse. The thoracic feet are very small, 

 the abdominal ones wanting, the whole ventral region being flexible 

 and adapted for locomotion. Dr. Chapman states (Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 Lond. 1894, p. 345) that there are suckers on the first eight abdomi- 

 nal segments, though the first and last of these are poorly developed; 

 these suckers are probably homologous with prolegs. 



The abdominal tubercles are derived from the highest Microlepi- 

 dopterous type. Primitive tubercles i and ii consolidated, iii single, iv 

 and V consolidated, all converted into many haired warts, thus giving 

 three segmentary rows of setiferous warts, subdorsal, lateral and sub- 

 ventral. By the reduction of the subventral area, the third row of 



