76 LEPIDOPTERA. 



Family 2. SESIIDiE. 



Antennae thickened in the middle, gracefully curved, 

 tapering to a long point. Fore wings long and very narrow, 

 broadest towards the apex, and with a very short rounded 

 hind margin. Hind wings long and narrow, rounded behind. 

 Abdomen long, usually banded with bright colours. 



LARViE smooth, soft, maggot-like, and witliout bright colours 

 or definite markings. Burrowing in the bark of -trees, in twigs 

 or shoots of trees or bushes, or in root-stocks of herbaceous 

 plants. 



PuPjE long and slender, with numerous short strong spines 

 on the abdominal segments. In a cocoon in the burrow made 

 by the larva. 



The structure of the fore wings in this group is somewhat 

 peculiar ; the costal nervure is strong and doubled and the 

 sub-costal lies closely parallel to it, forming together a very 

 firmly ribbed margin which is usually covered by a costal 

 stripe of coloured scales. The median nervure is relatively 

 distant from the sub-costal, lying rather near to the dorsal 

 margin ; it is continued unbroken two-thirds the length of 

 the wing, where it is united by a cross-bar with the sub- 

 costal ; from this cross-bar the usual smaller nervures, or 

 nervules as they are sometimes called, are thrown off to the 

 hind margin. The usual sub-dorsal nervure becomes dorsal — 

 that is to say, it runs along the dorsal margin instead of 

 within it. 



The structure, appearance, and habits of the perfect insects 

 and of the larvas of this group bear little or no resemblance 

 to those of the preceding, so far as the species found in this 

 country are concerned, but the connection by means of 

 numerous and various intermediate forms, in exotic groups, 

 is very close, and seems fully to justify the present position 

 of this family. It also appears to be closely allied to a group 



