404 LEPIDOPTERA 



liarmonises most perfectly with the h.iiry locks of the caterpillar 

 covering the cocoon. The latter is, consequently, not easily 

 detected, even when placetl upon the exposed and upturned 

 surface of the leaf." 



The cocoons of Limacodidae are unusually elal)orate, tlie 

 larva forming a perfect lid in order to permit itself to escape 

 when a moth. Chapman states that the larva lies unchanged 

 in the cocoon all winter, moulting to a pupa in the spring, and 

 that the pupa escapes from the cocoon previous to the emergence 

 of the moth.^ Both Chapman and I'ackard look on the family 

 as really nearer to Microlepidoptera than to Bombyces ; Meyrick 

 (calling it Heterogeneidae) places it at the end of his series 

 I'sychina next Zygaenidae. 



We may allude here to the little moths, described l)y West- 

 wood under the name of Ejnpyrops'^ that have the extraordinary 

 habit of living on the Ijodies of live Homopterous Insects of the 

 family Fulgoridae in India. What their nutriment may be is 

 not known. The larva exudes a white flocculent matter, which 

 becomes a considerable mass, in the midst of which the caterpillar 

 changes to a pupa. Westwood placed the Insect in Arctiidae ; 

 Sir George Hampson suggests it may be a Limacodid, and this 

 appears pi'ol)al)le. 



Fam. 27. Megalopygidae (nr Lagoidae). — The American 

 genera, Megaloiyygc. and Lagoa, are treated 1)y Berg and by 

 Packard ^ as a distinct family intermediate between Saturniidae 

 and Limacodidae. The larva is said by the latter authority to 

 have seven pairs of abdominal feet instead of five pairs — the 

 usual numl^er in Lepidoptera. When young the caterpillars of 

 Lagoa (rpercularis are white and resendile a Hock of cotton wool. 

 When full grown the larva presents the singular appearance of 

 a lock of hair, movino- in a gliding, sluo-like manner. Under 

 tlie long silky hair there are short, stiff, poison -hairs. The 

 larva forms a cocoon, fitted with a hinged trap -door for the 

 escape of the future moth. This curious larva is destroyed by 

 both Dipterous and Hymenopterous parasites. 



Fam. 28. Thyrididae. — A small family of Pyraloid moths, 

 exhil)iting considerable variety of form and colour, frequently 

 vvitli hyaline patches on the wings. They are mostly small 



1 Tr. cut. Sot: Londun, 1894, p. 348. " O2). cit. 1876, p. 522 ; and 1877, p. 4.3-3. 

 ^ P. Aincr. Phil. Soc. xxxii. 1894, p. 275. ' 



