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OD.J. 



PLATYPTERYX FALCATARIA. 



The Pebble Hook-tip Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Phalaeniclge. 



Type of the Genus, Phalsena falcataria Linn. 



Platypteryx Lasp.,Och.,Goda,Curt. — Drepana Schr., Lasp.,Curt. — 

 Syssaura and Bombyx Hiib. — Falcaria Haw. — Phalsena Linfi. 



Antenna inserted close to the eyes on the crown of the head, 

 short, bipectinated in the male (1) ; simple or slightly bipectinate 

 in the female (1 ? ): the branches ciliated internally. 

 Maxilla short, broad and leathery, formed of 2 lobes curved at 

 the apex, where the internal margin is slightly ciliated (3). 

 Labial Palpi small, hairy and recurved, appearing like a pencil 

 of hairs (4); triarticulate, basal joint the longest and stoutest, 

 straight, 2nd curved, 3rd nearly as long as the 2nd, compressed 

 and sublanceolate (a). 

 Head very short, clothed ivith depressed scales : eyes lateral and sub- 

 globose (7). Thorax small and clothed with depressed scales. Ab- 

 domen short and slender, especially in the males. Wings nearly 

 horizontal {or triangular according to Sepp) in repose, superior 

 ample and more or less falcated, sometimes indented : inferior gene- 

 rally rounded. Tibiae, anterior ivith an internal spine near the apex, 

 the others spurred, the hinder pair sometimes with spurs above the 

 apex (8 (^): tarsi rather stout and 5-jointed : claws small. 

 Larva; tuberculated, with 6 pectoral and 8 abdominal feet. Pupa, 

 contained in a cocoon, inclosed in a partially rolled leaf. 



Falcataria Linn. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 943. 1. 



Ochreous, sometimes brownish ; superior wings with 2 denti- 

 culated brown strigse near the base and another angulated one 

 beyond the middle, with a roundish slate- coloured spot on the 

 disc and 2 dots above it, an oblique brown line sometimes suf- 

 fused issuing from the apex, with an indented line, curved at 

 the tip, where it is purplish, and running parallel to the cilia 

 which are brown : inferior wings with 4 denticulated strigae and 

 a serrated line round the posterior margin, with a row of dusky 

 spots above. Abdomen banded with fuscous. 

 In the Author s and other Cabinets. 



The remarkable Larvae so much resembling those of Cerura 

 (the Puss and Kitten Moths, fol. 193.), and the perfect Insects 

 so very like the Atlas Moth in miniature, led some naturalists 

 to associate this group with the Bombycidae; but I think Pla- 

 typteryx is more allied to the Phalaenidae, and that the place 

 assigned to them in the Guide is more natural : at the same 

 time it is worth observing, that whilst in that species most re- 

 sembling the Atlas Moth the maxillae are more like those of the 

 Bombycidae, when they are present in that family ; in those 

 removed from the type they are well developed and spiral. 



