10 Journal New York Entomological Society. [voi. iv. 



Finally a word concerning the origin of the Dioptidce to trace the 

 ancestry a step further. In this Journal (Vol. iii, p. 30-32), Dr. 

 Packard argues for the derivation from a common ancestor of the 

 " Geometrids, Dioptids, Hypsids and Syntomids "= Euchroraiidae. 

 It is true he makes this ancestor to be the Lithosiidas, why I am unable 

 to imagine. We have no evidence of the extensive degeneration which 

 is implied in deriving the simple Geometrids and Hypsids (a low 

 Noctuidous type) from the highly specialized Lithosiida;, with their 

 four-branched cubitus and modified wart formation in the larvae. To 

 my mind, the present group nearest to the ancestral form of the Noc- 

 tuina (which includes the four families mentioned by Dr. Packard) is 

 the Notodontidce.^^ We see in them a combination of the generalized 

 position of vien 5 with the single haired tubercle of the larva. The two 

 families next nearest this stem are the Dioptidce on one side and the 

 Geometridce on the other. Therefore I agree with Dr. Packard's main 

 proposition, and we may derive the Dioptid?e from low on the main 

 stem of the Noctuina, near the ancestors of the Geometrids, as illustrated 

 in the genealogical tree shown on the accompanying plate (Plate III, 



fig- 9)- 



COMPOSIA FIDELISSIMA: ITS LIFE HISTORY. 



1S66— Herrich-Schafter, Cor. Blatt. Reg. XX, 131. 



1867 — Grote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Thil. VI, 303. 



1890— Dyar, Ent. News, I, 105. 



1891— Dyar, Ent. News, II, 50. 



1892— Kiiby, Cat. Lep. Het. I, 190. 



1894— Neumoegen & Dyar, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc. II, 26. 



Coniposia olympia BuTLER. 



1871— Butler, Ann. Nat. Hist. (4) VIII, 290. 



1884 — Druce, Biol. Cent. Am. pi. 11, fig. i. 



1890 — French, Ent. News, I, 153, fig. 



Eggs. — Large, spherical, except for the flattened base; deep 

 ocher yellow, slightly shining. Diameter 1.3 mm.; height .9 mm. 

 The reticulations are small, rounded hexagonal, visible under a half 

 inch objective. (Plate III, fig. i). Twenty-four eggs were found on 

 the back of a single leaf, irregularly distributed and rather remote from 

 each other. 



Stage I. — Head rounded, shining, concolorous with the body; 

 width .5 mm. Body dull orange, segments 5-6, 9-1 1 reddish purple; 



* In some characters the Dioptids themselves are more generalized than the 

 Notodontidce, e. g., the presence of traces of a third anal vein in hind wings as shown by 

 Prof. Comstock ; but on the whole they must rank a little higher. 



