CYMBID^. 153 



1832, p. 203) : — " Whilst collecting Lepidoptera in the South of 

 France, on the beautiful summer evenings so common in the 

 neighbourhood of Montpellier, I noticed that the Ecaille 

 pudique made a little sound when flying around me, which I 

 can best compare to the noise made by a stocking-frame," 

 Since then many other entomologists have noticed this in- 

 teresting phenomenon. The organs by which the sound is 

 produced are situated on each side of the metathorax. Each 

 consists of a small cavity with raised and rounded edges, 

 covered by a thin, stiff membrane, capable of vibration. 



FAMILY XIV. CYMBID.^. 



This is a small Family of doubtful position, the few genera 

 which it includes having been referred by various authors 

 to the Tortrices (to which the smaller species bear much re- 

 semblance), the Fyrales, the Noctuce, and to different Families 

 of Bombyces. They are now, however, considered by most 

 authors to be nearest allied to the Ardiidce. They are insects 

 of moderate size, with the antennas slightly ciliated in the males, 

 the palpi clothed with hair or scales, and the thorax and abdo- 

 men smooth. The larvae have sixteen legs, and feed on trees, 

 and the pupa is enclosed in a firm, boat-shaped cocoon. Most of 

 the species of this Family have bright green fore-wings, and white 

 hind-wings. The two larger British species are here figured ; 

 a smaller one, Earias chloratta (Linnaeus), has much shorter 

 and squarer green fore-wings, expanding rather less than an 

 inch. The larva feeds on the shoots of the willow. The Moth 

 greatly resembles the Green Oak Tortrix {7\)rtrix viridatta^ 

 Linnaeus) in size and appearance, but may be distinguished at 

 a glance by its white instead of brown hind-wings. A closely- 

 aUied species {Earias insulana, Boisduval) is common through- 

 out the warmer parts of the Old World, and is very destruc- 



