98 ILLINOIS BIOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS [98 



A synopsis of the American species of this family is given as the 

 conclusion of a series of papers by Dyar in 1899. It will be found in 

 Jour. N. Y. Ent. Soe. 8, 1899, p. 235. 



Family Lacosomidae. 



Head rugose, wider than prothorax and much higher, with vertex 

 on same level as dorsum of body but with ventral portion produced as 

 far as the thoracic legs are long; ocelli all rather close together; labrum 

 with a small notch ; no secondary setae. Body widest at proleg-bearing 

 segments, sometimes fusiform. Prothorax with epsilon below alpha and 

 gamma, rho moved forward to a position near it ; Kappa group bisetose. 

 Mesothorax as usual. Alpha of abdomen nearer dorsomeson than beta 

 on segments 1 to 9 ; kappa and eta adjacent ; Pi group consisting of 

 two to three setae on segments 1 and 2, four to eight setae on each 

 proleg ; two setae on segments 7 and 8, and one seta on segment 9. 

 Prolegs present on segments 3 to 6 and 10, each of the five pairs bearing 

 a biordinal complete circle of crochets. 



Cicinnns melsheimeri has seta iv of the head enlarged and spatu- 

 late, its base as large as an ocellus ; each proleg has six to eight setae 

 on its cephalolateral surface ; the anal segment is depressed ; and the 

 body is much thicker in the middle than at the ends. 



Lacosoma chiridota has seta iv of the head normal, its base much 

 smaller than an ocellus ; each proleg bears four setae on its cephalolateral 

 surface; the anal segment is scarcely depressed and the body is only 

 slightly thickened in the proleg region. L. arizonica has not been seen. 



Family Nolidae. 



Systematists differ greatly in placing this family. Hampson, in 

 1900, makes Nolinae one of the subfamilies of Ai"ctiidae, which he con- 

 siders the highest family of the entire order. A few years later Dyar 

 includes the group in his Tineoidea, close to Cochlidiidae, Megalopygidae, 

 etc. The latter position is based on the presence of but one verruca 

 (Kappa) between Rho and mu, caudoventrad of the spiracle on the 

 abdomen (Fig. 60), it being assumed that this verruca arose from a 

 coalescence of kappa and eta. As many Acronyctinae have verruca 

 kappa reduced to a single seta or even absent (Figs. 65 and 66) this 

 condition does not seem sufficient to prove conclusively the position of 

 the group. 



Head smooth, smaller than prothorax, partially retractile, bearing 

 primary setae only; front wider than high, not reaching half way to 

 vertical triangle ; labrum notched to about one-third its depth ; sixth 

 ocellus usually at a considerable distance from upper five which are in 

 a semicircle enclosing seta vii; seta v rather closely associated with 



