CHAPTER VI. 

 TOBTBICES, TINEJE, AND PTEROPHOEL 



The Tortrices or Twisters are so called because many, though 

 not all of them, are in the habit of twisting or rolling up 

 leaves while in the larval state. Of these insects, a vast number 

 of speciHia are already known, and new species are continually 

 being brought forward for investigation. There is, however, 

 so great a resemblance between the different species, and each 

 species is so apt to run into varieties, that all systematic ento- 

 mologists look with suspicion on any newly announced species 

 of this group, and the discoverer is sure to be sharply chal- 

 lenged as to his proofs of its novelty. So extremely variable 

 are some of these Moths, that in one case no. less than thirty- 

 seven alleged species have been reduced to one, and shown to 

 be merely varieties ; while in another species twenty-three 

 varieties have been detected, and in another, fourteen. 



There is little difl&culty in knowing whether a Moth belongs 

 to this group. In these, the body is comparatively short and 

 slender, and the wings have a peculiar wave on their costal 

 margin, so that when the insect is at rest with closed wings, 

 the outline is curiously like that of a bell. We will take a 

 few of the most conspicuous of these Moths. 



At their head come some Moths which scarcely seem to 

 belong to the Tortrices. They are popularly called by the name 

 of Silver Lines, because their green wings are crossed with 

 some narrow lines of silvery-whiteness. As a rule, the Tor- 

 trices are all little Moths, but some of the Silver-Lines are 

 exceptions to this rule, and are, indeed, the very giants of their 

 race. 



There are but three of these insects, which form the family 

 of the Cymbidae, a name which will be presently explained. 



