328 



bi'cn (Irawu iicxt to Hhmii as a se])arate figiire. f (liitik tliat we 

 owe tliis for a groat part to Dyar. 



Packard's elassifieatiou is most casily studied f'rom liis: "genea- 

 log'ical tree of Lepidoptera" (1895, p. 88). He thinks all the 

 Bonibi/ciiioe descend from the Lithosiidaei and these froin the 

 T'mc'nia. The SphiïKi'idac descend like the Hafiirtu'/dae from the 

 Ceratocampidae. ïhis classification so far concurs with that of 

 IIandlirsch (1908). This writer also places the families mentioned 

 in close contact, but thinks they have developed from different 

 ancestors. Against Packard's opinion may be adduced, that the 

 Bombycidae — Saturnidae., the Sphingidae, the Lithosiidae have all 

 been found for the first time in the beginning of the Caenozoicum, 

 just as the Noctuidae^ the Geoitiefridae^ the Hesperidae and the 

 Papilionidae s. 1., which according to Packard have all des- 

 cended with more or less intermediate groups from the Litho- 

 siidae and which for the greater part form the extreme branches 

 of his genealogical tree. In 1905 (p. 46) Packard gives another 

 classification which is slightly different but yet in principle the 

 same. He thinks the Notodontidae descend from the Thyatiridae^ 

 which Handlirsch places next to the Hesperidae. This clashes 

 with the palaeontological data, the Notodontidae are the youngest 

 family and are only known from the Quartair. 



The series of Packard's families is: (according to 1905, p. 46) 

 Notodontidae^ Ceratocampidae^ Saturtiiidae^ Hemileucidae, Sphin- 

 gidae and Cerucinae as Syssphingina, opposed to which are 

 the S y m b o m b y c i n a with Datani)iae, Apatelodiriae^ Euptero- 

 tidae^ Ichthyurinae^ Liparidae, Lasiocampidae, Endroniidae^ Bom- 

 bycidae and Brahmaeidae. 



I have arranged the families according to Packard and wish 

 to point out Handlirsch's series: Bomhycidae—Satnrniidae^ 

 Lasiocampidae^ Sphingidae^ Liparidae, Notodontidae. At the end 

 of this discussion I shall return to this subject. 



Family I. Notodontidae. This large family contains seven sub fami- 

 lies, of which according to Packard (1895) some (the first four) are 



