TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



VOLUME XXXVI. 



Revision of the BLASTORASID^E of North America. 



BY WM. G. DIETZ, M. D. 

 (Plates I-IV.) 



The Blastobasidae as now understood and distinguished 

 from the CEcophoridse form a well defined family of the 

 Tineina. Although the term had been used by Mr. E. 

 Meyrick* as far back as 1894, and since that time by Lord 

 Walsingham,t the honor of giving the first definition of the 

 family under consideration belongs to Mr. A. Busck.t 



Its characters are as follows : 



Labial palpi variable in development, often dimorphic in 

 the sexes. 



Maxillary palpi rudimentary. 



Antennas shorter than the forewings ; excised above the 

 basal joint in some (PI. II, figs. 14, 17a) {Blastobasis, Valen- 

 tinia, Holocera in part, Euresia) , the excision being more or 

 less filled by a scale tuft arising from the proximal end of 

 the excision. The basal joint more or less widened into an 

 eye cap, convex above, concave beneath with a glabrous 

 space which covers the eye in repose ; anterior margin of 

 joint fringed with long, more or less stiff hairs — pecten 

 (PI. II, fig. lb), or else with a conchiloidal shield of close 

 set, long scales (PI. I, fig. la) {Calosima, Zenodochium) . 



* Trans. Ent Soc, London, 1894, p. 22. 



t Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXXIII, p. 199, also Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 Vol. XLV, p. 46. 



t Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXXV, p. 187. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XXXVI. (1) JANUARY, 1910. 



