74 
wing in all the Lepidoptera in the pupa state. The wings are then 
bent downwards, and the upper wings cover the lower ones, the 
upper surface of the latter turned sidewise. In the Papilionidae, 
or true Butterflies, in their adult state, the wings are raised above 
the body, their upper surface turned upwards and inwards, never 
turning outwards. In the mature Hesperian the position of the 
wings is different; the anterior pair only are raised, while the lower 
ones are stretched horizontally. In the perfect state of the lowest 
Moths, the wings are stretched backwards close to the body, which 
they more or less surround. In the varying attitude of the wings 
we evidently have a manifestation of the cephalic principle, and 
accordingly a safe basis upon which to found our systematic 
arrangements. 
It is with diffidence that I suggest that, in the position of the 
wings, we have a character which might be interpreted as assigning 
a higher position to the Geometridae. In most of these moths 
there is a more frequent common ornamentation of the upper 
surface of the wings, perhaps predicated by the exposure of the hind 
pair in a state of rest to the light. 
With regard to the position of the Deltoids, Lederer says: 
“Tch konnte, wie gesagt, ebenfalls keine [ Verschiedenheit] auffin- 
den und trage um so weniger Bedenken, die nun aufzufiihrenden 
Arten [Deltoiden] zu den Hulen zu rechnen, als sie selbst dann, 
wenn noch ein sie von diesen trennendes, avsschliessliches Merkmal 
aufgefunden werden sollte dennoch hier und nicht bei den Pyrali- 
den unterzubringen wiren und der Totaleindruck sie gewiss von 
diesen noch weit mehr, als von den Noctuinen unterscheidet, tiber- 
haupt weniger in Wirklichkeit als in der Gewohnheit diese Arten 
als Pyraliden zu betrachten, besteht.” 
While I am not agreed with the separation of the Cymatophorina, 
Herrich-Schaeffer, as w group equivalent to the Noctuidae, nor as 
having more than analogies with the Bombycidae, I think we shall 
be justified in considering the Deltoids as belonging to the Noctui- 
dae; and this rather than allow an interpolation of the Family 
Geometridae between groups so nearly allied, that certain of our first 
authorities, Zeller, Lederer and Herrich-Schaeffer, cannot separate 
them by any tangible character, 
