510 LEriUOPTKRA 



own. I am not aware that any attempt liad been made 

 hy European naturalists, before the publication of the first 

 edition of this treatise, to determine the modern genus to 

 which the Angoumois moth belongs, or to clear up and 

 make known the synonymy of this species. This labor 

 seems to have been left to an American, remote from the 

 scene of the early and long continued depredations of the 

 insect, and deprived of the common facihties enjoyed by 

 EurojDean naturalists. 



7, Feather-winged Moths. (Alucitce.) 



The last tribe of Lepidopterous insects remaining to be 

 noticed contains the Alucit^ of LiinitEus, or feather- 

 winged moths, called Pterophorid^e by the- French natu- 

 ralists- These moths are easily known by their wings 

 beino; divided lenothwise into narrow, frino;ed branches, 

 resemblino; feathers. The fore winiis in the o-enus Ptero- 

 phorus are split, nearly half-way, into two, and the hind 

 wings are divided, to the shoulder-joint, into three feathers ; 

 and each of the wings, in Alucita^ consists of six feathers, 

 connected only at the joint. The antennce of these moths 

 are slender and tapering ; the tongue is long , the feelers 

 are two in number, and of moderate length ; and the body 

 and legs are very long and slender. When at rest, their 

 wings do not cover the body, but stand out from it on each 

 side, not spread however, but folded together like a fan, so 

 that only the outer part of each of the fore wings is visible. 

 They fly slowly and feebly, some of them by day, and oth- 

 ers only at night, and, when on the wing, they somewhat 

 resemble the long-legged gnats. Their caterpillars are 

 rather short and thick, are clothed with a feAv hairs, and 

 liave sixteen short legs. Most of them live on the leaves 

 of low or herbaceous plants, and, when about to change to 

 chrysalids, they ftisten themselves by the hind feet and by a 

 loop over the back, like the Lycaenians. Those which be- 



