102 NEUKOPTERA. 



ihent of the Orders of Insects than exists at present. Our native 

 species are all of dull colours, grey, brown, and black predomi- 

 nating ; and many of them, especially the smaller species, have 

 considerable resemblance to moths, both in general appearance and 

 in mode of flight. Their study is attended with peculiar diffi- 

 culties, as the species greatly resemble each other, and cannot be 

 satisfactorily separated without an examination of the anal append- 

 ages. 



Mr. M'Lachlan, in his Monographic Revision and Synopsis of the 

 Trichoptera of the European Fauna, the latest standard work on the 

 subject, enumerates eight families, chiefly founded on the structure 

 of the palpi ; but we shall here confine ourselves to a notice of a 

 few of the most conspicuous and interesting species. 



Phryganea Ch-andis, Linn., which may be considered typical of 

 the family Phryganidce, is a brown insect measuring nearly two 

 inches in expanse. It is common in most parts of the country, 

 and its larva, which forms a cylindrical tube of fragments of leaves, 

 etc., lives in still water. There are two or three other British 

 species, which are very similar, but rather smaller. There are 

 some Chinese and Japanese species of Phryganea with yellow hind 

 wings bordered with brown ; and Indian species with purplish 

 hind wings largely tipped with yellow. 



The Hydroptilidce are small dark insects with short and almost 

 moniliform antennae, and long fringes to the hind wings, so that 

 they might easily be mistaken for Micro-Lepidoptera. They are 

 gregarious, fly by day as well as in the evening and at night, and 

 are very active, and frequently swarm near water. 



The species of Leptocerus, Leach, are brown or black insects, 

 expanding three-quarters of an inch or an inch across the wings, 

 and are remarkable for the great length of their antennae, which 

 are often more than twice as long as the wings, especially in the 

 males. The larvae form their cases of sand. The Leptoceridce, like 

 most of the Trichoptera, are gregarious insects, and are generally 

 met with i?i abundance, if at all. 



The other five families admitted by M'Lachlan are the 

 Limnophihda'., Sericostoinatidce, CEstropsidce, Hydropsychidce, and 

 Rhyj:ico'philid(e. 



