514 PROr. J. O. WESTWOOD ON THE URANIID^,. 



tliat the tendency to form one, two, or even three small cells by the brauchlets of the 

 subcostal vein more or less anastomosing together, near the middle of the fore margin 

 of the fore wing, is one of the most constant characters of the Geometridae. No such 

 small cell occurs in the Uraniida;' ; nor, as Mr. Packard remarks, is any Geometrideous 

 larva known having the normal number of sixteen feet, in consequence of which the 

 peculiar mode of locomotion exhibited by the " looper " caterpillars of the latter 

 family is rendered necessaiy. In the Uraniidae, on the contrary, the larvae have sixteen 

 feet ; for, even in that of Urania rhiphcus, as described by M. Sganzin, " il n'y avait 

 aucune interruption de pattes," although when walking they are said to have " quel- 

 ques rapports avec les chenilles dites Arpenteuses et dans le repos elles formaicnt 

 entierement la boucle." 



On casting our eyes over the extensive family of the Gcometridie there are a few 

 species which, in their larger size and in the possession of a short tail to each of the 

 hind wings, approach more nearly to the Uraniidae than the rest. Urapteryx, with 

 which M. Guenee commences the series of the Geometridae, forming " un assez bon 

 passage aux Uramdes," is remarkable for the arrangement of the veins of the wings, 

 recalling to mind that of the Saturnides, and differing from the general types of the 

 family. Plate LXXXVI. fig. 5 represents the veins of the fore wing, and fig. 6 those 

 of the hind wings of U. sambucaria. It is true that we here see three branches to the 

 median vein and the lower discoidal (c3»), or the independent vein of Mr. Packard, 

 arising from the middle of the extremity of the discoidal cell ; but both on the fore and 

 hind wings a branch (representing the upper discoidal vein, Bo», in the fore wings) is 

 wanting, as is also the small subcostal discoidal cell or cells. 



There are, however, certain moths, natives of the Malayan archipelago, which ex- 

 hibit a much closer resemblance to the Uraniidae than Urapteryx in the arrangement 

 of the veins of their wings, the hind pair of which are likewise furnished with a 

 short broad tail, marked (like that of Urapteryx) with a somewhat eye-like black spot. 

 These form the genus Strophidia of Hiibner and Felder (Micronia., group 1, H. N. 

 Ix'p. X. p. 24), the first species of which [Micronia astheniata, from Borneo) is named 

 by M. Guenee after my genus Atsfhenia (upon which observations will be found in the 

 later part of this memoir). Other species are : — M. caudata. Fab. (fasciata, Cram, 

 pi. 104. f. D) ; 31. ohtusata, Guen. pi. 5. f. 6 (errore caudata) ; M. aciileata, Guen. pi. 13. 

 f. 8 ; il/. striataria, Lima., Clerck, pi. 55. Two very typical species have also been figured 

 by Messrs. Felder and liogenhoft^r (Strojiliidia 2)a}inata, Novara Exp. pi. cxxviii. fig. 39, 

 from Ilalmaheira and Salwatti, and 8. phantasmah, ib. fig. 40, from Gebeh, Java {Hern- 

 stein)). Plate LXX^'I. fig. 8 represents the venation of the anterior, and fig. 9 tliat of 

 the posterior wing of a typical species of this genus closely allied to S. phantasmah, whidi 



' ]n Cliri/sirulia rhipheus (Pl.LXXXV. fig. 15) there is a very narrow elonp^tcd subdiscoidal cell, resulting 

 from the abortion of the extremity of the second branch of the postcostal vein (I 2) and its coalescing with the 

 base of the third branch (6 3), quite unlike that of any of the Geometridic. 



