1920] Crampton — Lower Lepidopfera and Trichoptera 25 



In all these points this family is definitely Lepidopterous. Neither 

 the larval form nor the imaginal mouthparts are Trichopterous, so 

 that there is really no justification for so radical a change, which 

 must remain as a serious blemish in a fine work." 



In order to test the validity of Tillyard's criticism, it has seemed 

 preferable to examine structures other than the wing veins in com- 

 paring the micropterygoids with the Tricoptera, and for this pur- 

 pose, I have chosen the primitive little Trichopteron Philopotamus 

 distinctus. These small caddice-flies are particularly interesting 

 because the females have only rudimentary wings — a condition 

 which, so far as I am aware, has been recorded but once before 

 among North American Trichoptera. The bodies of both males 

 and females are of a dusky black color, and the wings of the males 

 are of a slightly ashen hue. Both sexes are found on stones along 

 the banks of swiftly running streams, particularly in the neighbor- 

 hood of waterfalls, and those found about Amherst first appear the 

 latter part of April. The females have rather long hind legs 

 enabling them to flee rapidly over the surface of the water with 

 quick leaping movements, when disturbed, while the males under 

 these conditions dart to the surface of the water, and after making 

 a short series of "leaping" flights, come to rest on the bank a short 

 distance from the place whence they were dislodged. At the 

 beginning of the season, neither males nor females are readily 

 disturbed, and may be easily captured by a quick grasp with a 

 pair of forceps. The small white larvae which appear to be those of 

 Philopotannfs crawl over stones in swift-running brooks, and pupate 

 in their cases made of sand, usually attached to the upper surface 

 of stones. The pupse, if I remember aright, are protected by a 

 parchment-like case lining th6 outer one made of sand. I am 

 hoping to find out more of the life history of these insects later, 

 since the habits and oecology of insects should be studied in addi- 

 tion to their structures, in attempting to determine their affinities; 

 but for the purpose of the present paper, it will be sufficient to 

 compare the chief features of their anatomical details with those 

 of the micropterygids. 



The head capsule of Philopotamus (Plate II, Fig. 2) is surprisingly 

 like that of the micropterygid Mnemonica (Fig. 4) in outline, and 

 these two types of head approach the nearest to that of the neurop- 

 terous ithoniid Oliarces clara. Banks (an insect which should be 



