NEW MICROPTBKTGID GENItS AND A NEW KKIOCRANIAD SPBCTES. 1G3 



Explanation of Plate. 

 Ficjs. Iand2. Analveinsl/'( = XI),lc( = IX) of Kpimaytyria auricrinella. 

 Cubital veins 2 ( = Vnj, 8 ( = VIIJ. 

 Median veins 4 (= V3), 5 ( = V.,), 6 (= V J. 

 Radial veins 7 ( = 111.). « ( = 111 J, 9 (= III3). 



10 (= IIIJ, ii(=nij. 

 Subcostal vein 12 (= II). 

 Fig. 3. Head in profile. 

 Fig. 4. Joints of antenna. 

 Fig. 5. Head from beneath. 



Ant. = antennie ; rab. = mandibles ; mx. = maxillae ; 

 mx. p. = maxillary palpi ; lb. = labium ; lb. p. = 

 labial palpi (?). 



The British Liparid Moths. 



(Concluded from p. 143 y. 

 By A. BACOT. 



Imagines. — I have not yet studied the adult insects in detail, and 

 they are too well known to need a f^eneral descrij^tion. The most 

 important structural details mentioned by Kirby are, that the tongue, 

 })alpi, legs and autennai are short, the latter in the ^ deeply pecti- 

 nated. In an old work. Insect Transformations, Jjondon, 1830, allusion 

 is made to an extensile abdominal organ, jjossessed by the females of 

 Portliesia similis and P. chrysorrhoea, for the purpose of transfer- 

 ring tlie down from their bodies to the ova when laid. This organ is 

 said to have the action of a minute pair of tweezers. A similar organ 

 is mentioned by Mr. C. Nicholson as occurring in the females of Ocneria 

 dispar {Ent. Record, vol. v., p. 236). Leucoma salicis,iiH an imago, 

 is able to exude two drops of a bright green fluid, one on either side of 

 the thorax. I have only observed this in the females, but cannot say 

 if it is confined to this sex. Orgyia gonostigma, occasionally P. 

 similis, and more rarely Dasychira pudibunda, are double-brooded in 

 captivity, all the remaining species being, so far as I am aware, siugle- 

 ))rooded. Food seems to be an important factor in obtaining second 

 broods of 0. gonostigina. Sallow seems especially nutritious ; in warm 

 seasons a third brood is not uncommon, if the larvte are fed on it. 



General observations. — In hybernation, as in (»viposition, each 

 species seems to be a law unto itself, paying no attention to the habits or 

 .stfiges of its nearest relatives. Psilura monacka and 0. dispar pass 

 the winter as fully-developed larvie within the egg. Leucoma salicis, 

 as a young larva, in 2nd skin, spinning a slight cocoon in the crevices 

 of, or underneath, loose bark. The hybernation of Porthesia similis 

 (aurijlua), and P. chrysorrhoea takes place in the larval stage. The 

 former, in 4th or 5th skin, spins a large, slight cocoon in which to moult, 

 and a smaller and denser cocoon within this, in which to hyberuate. 

 The larva of the latter makes a smaller and den.ser web within the loose 

 feeding one. The silk used in the hy])ernating web is grey, and nnuh 

 closer and more (>pa(iue than that of the summer web. Its interioi" 

 is divided uji into se])arate cells or chamlKTs, connected by jjassages ; 

 all those that I opened contained from 10 to 12 larvie each, and their 

 cast skins in addition. This latter fact is interesting from its similarity 

 to the habit of J*. si)nilis. The larva of J*, chrysorrhm <( hybernates 



