52 THE entomologist's record. 



successfully done as any I have mounted, but even in it, the hairs on 

 one side have been disturbed in the process, and give an erroneous 

 impression of differing from those on the other. In M. iKnaedacti/la 

 the appendages are quite symmetrical, the two hairs which each clasp 

 carries have the appearance of being a disc or medal sunk into the 

 middle of the clasp, as they are curved round into a circle. In M. 

 tiittodarti/la, the whole appendages are smaller than in M. Innacdacti/la, 

 and the hairs on one side are not very dissimilar from those of that species, 

 but are shorter and do not make a complete circle, and, on the other 

 side, they are very short and straight. A vastly greater difference than 

 one would expect to find in two imagines that resemble one another 

 so closely. M. tuttodactyla is very close indeed to, if not identical with, 

 M. (((/roriim, and I think the differences seen in the figures come 

 Avithin the limits of variation due to geographical (climatic or other) 

 causes, that may occur in races of one species. Allowance has to be 

 made in the figures for the hairs having been more completely removed 

 in mounting the specimen of M. tuttodactyla, and a difference in the 

 pressure used. I have only the one specimen of M. ai/ronim, but some 

 specimens of 31. tuttodactyla approach it more nearly than those 

 figured. I incline, therefore, to believe that M. tuttodactyla is probably 

 a race of M. ayrorum, but am not at all positive about it. The 

 appendages of M. fauna (from the Riviera) form a very elegant object, the 

 hairs are highly curved but far from forming a circle. The clasps are 

 quite symmetrical. 



The other two are on a much larger scale, both are from specimens 

 obtained from Staudinger, one under the name of Flatyptilia aaiatica, 

 is unquestionably a Marasmarcha, and has \ery large curled bristles. It 

 is quite symmetrical, the appearance to the contrary is due to one of the 

 clasps being turned over. The clasp of the other, 3/. colossa probably points 

 to generic separation from Marasviarcha. The hairs long and curled 

 on one side, very short and straight on the other, are, of course, typically 

 Marasmarchid, associated as they are with clasps otherwise s^'mmetrical. 

 But the spines on the clasps differentiate it from the other species. 

 As regards dividing the Marasmarchids into several genera, the 

 difference between M. lunaedactyla and M. tuttodactyla, as shown in 

 the clasps, is that between not two genera, or two tribes, but between 

 the subfamilies of Platyptiliids and Alucitids (Aciptiliids), yet the 

 imagines are so close as to have long escaped recognition of their being 

 distinct, and are, unquestionably, very closely related to each other, and 

 we must admit that what for the mass of " plumes " is a difference of 

 subfamily importance, here has a value involving only specific rank. 



In comparing the larvte of j\I. tuttodactyla and M. lunaedactyla, one 

 finds that the resemblances are extremely close, and the differences 

 are, in fact, in degree, not in kind. The hairs of M. tuttodactyla are 

 rather thicker and much paler than in M. lunaedactyla, and the 

 accessory postspiracular tubercle is always well-developed, always 

 having three, and often four, hairs. On the same tubercle in M. 

 lunaedactyla, even four hairs sometimes occur, but, as a rule, one finds 

 only two, and a solitary hair is not uncommon. The larva is also 

 decidedly paler. 



The pupfe are again extremely similar, but there are some differ- 

 ences in the outline of the halbert-shaped dorsal spines. It would be 

 difficult to assert these to be more than varietal, and they do not lend 



