46 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. .' 



twenty or thirty nests of the larvae in the hedges round Hertford 

 during one season, while in others not a single example has occurred. 

 " Larvse frequent in certain seasons, near Bottisham/'' — Rev. L. 

 Jenyns. " Epping." — Mr. H. Douhleday. 



Genus LIV. — Cnethocampa* milii. 



Palpi very short, enveloped in elongate hairs, triarticulate, the basal joint 

 longer and stouter than the second, terminal minute, slender, rather acute : 

 maxiUce obsolete. Anteiince short, sUghtly curved, bipectinated in the males, 

 serrated in the females, the pectinations gradually decreasing in length to the 

 apex: head distinctly visible from above: thorax stout, hairy: abdomenr&^er 

 elongate, tufted, the apex of the female with a woolly mass : wings slightly 

 reversed, obscurely diaphanous : cilia not abbreviated : legs slender : femora 

 and tibice pilose. Larva gregarious, cyhndrical, hairy : pupa also gregarious, 

 obtuse, bidentate posteriorly, enclosed in a rigid cocoon. 



In a comment on the genus Gastropacha, it is remarked, with 

 reference to the great difficulty of characterizing Lepidopterous 

 genera, from the obscurity of the trophi, that " the characters to be 

 derived from the habits of the species will only be sufficient to divide 

 them into Jhmilies ;" but it is evident that their habits, as in other 

 departments of nature, sufficiently point out genera when duly in- 

 vestigated, and it is equally evident that a genus which contains 

 such discordant insects as a union of this, Trichiura, and Clisio- 

 campa (without pointing out the peculiar habits, &c. of the respec- 

 tive species), must not only be strictly artificial, and lead to error, 

 but clearly shows the absurdity of attempting to reduce genera, 

 which, it has been justly observed, cannot be done with impunity, 

 when the advancement of science is the j)rimarif object in view. 

 Cnethocampa, in common with the two preceding genera, has the 

 wings somewhat elongated in both sexes ; from the first, the 

 males differ by the tenuity and brevity of the antennae and 

 their pectinations, and the females by having a downy tuft at 

 the apex of their abdomen ; from Eriogaster, both sexes differ by 

 the elongation of the cilia, exclusively of differences in the tropin, 

 &c. : the habits of the larvae, as hereafter noticed, are remarkably 

 dissimilar to those of the above genera, and their hairs, when ap- 

 plied to any part of the body, cause very great irritation and acute 

 pain, especially those of Cn. Pityocampa; the exhibition thereof 



* Kvjjf'a/, pruritum moveo, Kafiv/i, eruca. 



