Lithosiidse 



Genus DAHANA Grote 



Only one species, the type of the genus, is known. 



( I ) Dahana atripennis Grote, Plate XIII, Fig. 2}, $ . (The 

 Black-winged Dahana.) 



The habitat of this species is southern Florida. The insect 

 does not appear to be common in collections. 



FAMILY LITHOSIIDy^ 



"You would be another Penelope: yet, they say, all the yarn she spun 

 in Ulysses's absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths." 



— Shakespeare, Coriolanus, 1,3. 



The moths belonging to this fomily have the larv^ of the 

 usual form displayed by the Arctiidae, with all of the prolegs 

 present. They feed principally upon lichens. They pupate in 

 cocoons spun up of silk, in which the hairs of the larva are 

 mingled. 



The perfect insects, or imagoes, are of medium size or small. 

 As a family, they present many variations in structure, both as 

 to the venation of the wings and secondary sexual characteris- 

 tics. The following general characterization of the group is 

 taken from Hampson, "Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalanx," 

 Vol. II, p. 80: 



'* Proboscis usually well developed, but often aborted; palpi 

 usually short and porrect, sometimes reaching well beyond the 

 frons, often upturned, rarely reaching above the vertex of the 

 head; antennae of male usually with bristles and cilia, often bipec- 

 tinate, sometimes dilated or with tuft of scales on upper side of 

 shaft; ocelli absent; tibiae with the spurs usually moderate, some- 

 times long or absent. Fore wing typically long and narrow, but 

 in a large section, short and broad, the narrow winged genera 

 having vein 5, and often vein 4, absent. Hind wing with 

 vein 8 coincident with the cell from base to one-third or to 

 near end of cell." 



About a dozen genera have thus far been recognized as 

 represented in the fauna of the region of which this book 

 treats. 



103 



