15 



propo.st^d ill llir lolldW iiii;' rhissiliciitioii will sliiiid, I'ciiiaiiis In lie (Irlriiiiiiicil 

 by any one who may iiiidiTlakc to clalioialc lln' I'lialaiiid taiiiia ol ihc world. 

 I have vcnliirod only alter carclul oltseivalioii ol' anatomical liids to unite 

 some ol" M. Guenee's families into larger groups, which may inovisionally he 

 regarded as subfamilies. All through my work, the elaborate monograph of 

 M. Gueuee has been my chief guide. The .students of moths are under 

 greater obligalion.s to him than any other author. Next to his work I raniv 

 Lederer's, which has been also of much use to me. 



Walker's "Lists of the Lcpidoptera lleterocera in the liritish ^Museum'' 

 simply follow Guenee's classification. A great opportunity was lost by the 

 authorities of" the British Museum in the publication of a series of meagre 

 descriptions which have only brought maledictions on the head of the amiable 

 but uncritical author of the Catalogues. I have endeavored to do full justice 

 to the work, as stated in the introduction. 



§ 3. — Differential Characters of the Family. 



Body slight, long, and slender. Thorax rather small and weak, never 

 tufted or crested. Head small, (piite t"iee from the thorax, either moder- 

 ately long or very short. Com])ound eyes rather large, full, and sjiherical ; 

 simple! eyes, two in number, often wanting. Front of the head rather nar- 

 row, usually decreasing in w idth toward the anterior edge, t"ull and l)ulging, 

 rarely ilattc.'ued, of"tcn with an acute, dense tuft projecting between the base 

 of th(! jialpi. The clypeus is nearly square, forming nearly the whole front 

 of the head ; the antenna? being inserted high up on the vertex; it is smooth; 

 in only one geuus {Fidonia), so far as known to me, with a denticulated, 

 median, compressed tubercle ; the epicranium is very small and short, otten 

 only half as long as wide; while the occiput is a narrow, transvense piece, not 

 quite .so long as the epicranium. Vertex not tufted, or with a low, flat, incon- 

 spicuous crest. 



Antennas either simple, with minute, tine cilia> ; more often with large, 

 dense cilia-, sometimes like fine bristles ; or they are pectinated ; the branches 

 short, spatulate, and ciliated, or, more usually, well developed, sometimes long 

 and ^lender ; the antennai sometimes plumose, but a single pair of branches to 

 a joint ; the ])ectiuations often wanting on the outer third or fourth of the 

 anleniue. Palpi slender, porrect, nearly always passing beyond the f"ront ; the 

 second joint much longer than the others, mod(;rately broad, usually passing 



