1864.] 



221 



winter insects. The TaJcBporidcB close our short summary ; in these 

 are found the Solenohice, which, speaking physiologically, are certainly 

 the most interesting of all our Lepidoptera* 



A glance at these varied conditions of apterous life in the Lepi- 

 doptera teaches us how little is yet known of cause and effect in 

 nature, amongst them are some summer moths flying in broad daylight 

 others are night-flying insects of the frost and the winter, there are 

 some living on the mountain tops, others in the warmth and shelter of 

 the woods, in some, as in Orgyia, the nearly allied genera have the 

 sexes differing materially from each other in their structure, in others, 

 as in Biston, the difference is but small ; one feature only seems com- 

 mon to the whole group, and even here, too positive an assertion must 

 not be made, since Chimahacche, at least, has a small sucker ; this 

 common character is that the digestive organs are reduced to a mini- 

 mum, and the females are, therefore, little else than living ovisacs. 



From the wide diffusion of these " ocnai gunaikes " over distant 

 regions of the world, it may be predicted that they are very ancient 

 types, and though the testimony of the rocks is against me, it may be 

 allowed to indulge in the hypothesis that the archaic form of Lepidop- 

 terous life was almost a land Trichopteron, and that the cases of these 

 early Psychidce may yet be found in the fossil state. 



The following list of apterous Lepidoptera belonging to the Euro- 

 pean fauna may conclude this summary : 

 HETEROGYNIDiE. 



Heteeogynis 

 AECTIAD^. 



OCNOGTNA 



HEPIALIDiE. 

 Sepiahis pyrenaicux 

 PSYCHICS. 

 LIPARID^. 

 Penthophoea 

 Oegyia 



NOCTU^. 

 Ulochlcena hirta 



GEOMETER. 



HiBEBNIA 



Anisopteeyx 



Phigalia 



Chondeosoma 



Biston (pars, i. e.) 

 B. hispidarius 

 B. lanarius 

 B. pomoiiarius 

 B. lapponarius 

 B. liquidarittsf 

 B. incisarius 

 B. zonarius 

 B. alpinus 

 B. grcecarius 



Gnophos (pars, i. e.) 

 O. Zelleraria 

 G, Andereggaria 



G. cceliharia 

 G. operaria 

 Pygm^na 

 Egea 



Malacodes 

 Cheimatobia 



PYEALID^. 

 Acentropus niveus 



TOETEICID^. 



OxYPTEEOIf 



Exapate 



TINEIDiE. 

 Daststoma 

 Chimabacche 

 TALiEPOEID^. 



105, Harborne Street, Edgbaston : 

 JaniMry 18^/t, 1884. 



* It is strange that no real advance has been made in the life-history of this genus since the 

 publication of Von Siebold's work on true Parthenogenesis, translated by Mr. Dallas in 185". 

 t li(ixMariui $ unknown. 



