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XX. 0)1 the antcnniB of Hepialidie — Lepidoptera Jugatse. 

 By Ambrose Quail, F.E.S. 



[Read October 7th, 1903.] 



Plate XIX. 



The characters which separate Jugcdie from other LepiJo- 

 ptera in the imago stage are well known to be definite and 

 constant, being essentially the structure of the wings, 

 which have nervures more numerous than prevails with 

 other Lepidoptera, and a " jngum " or lobe near the 

 base of the fore-wings which may be noted among Neuro- 

 ptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera, but not elsewhere among 

 Lepidoptera. The Hepialid group have neither maxillary 

 palpi nor tibial spurs, which characters are well developed 

 among other Jugativ. 



The species which comprise the well-defined Hepialidse, 

 have great diversity of antennal structure, which I have 

 examined, so far as my material permits, to observe whether 

 inter se there is evidence indicating which is the older and 

 more primitive form ; I believe the subject will interest 

 others. To properl^^ examine the antennal structure one 

 must remove and mount in balsam, or other media ; for this 

 reason one is confined to insects in one's own collection, 

 and in consequence many of my otherwise perfect specimens 

 are minus antennae. 



In my previous ) aper I did not note the presence of 

 scales on the Hepialid antenna, having devoted attention 

 to the pectination ^tT se; the scaling, however, is very 

 obvious. The large proximal joint (scape) is invariably 

 scaled more or less comjDletely, the scales are long — often 

 overlap one or more further segments — striated, slender, 

 attenuated throughout when viewed sideways, and look 

 very like a hair ; in fact, as Bodine puts it, " the scale is 

 a hair flattened out." The segment next the scape 

 (pedicel) is smaller and sometimes clothed with scales 

 similar to those of the scape, but usually with shorter and 

 broader scales approximating to the scales of the wings, 

 and this kind of scale prevails on the other (clavola) 

 segments of the antenna. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1903. — PART IV. (DEC.) o-i 



