314 Mr. A. G. Butler on the natural affinities of 



in character to both tribes : on looking over Lord Wal- 

 singham's series I was not a little startled to find larvas 

 agreeing in all respects with those of the families Arctiidce, 

 Liparida and Notodontidce in addition to two of a Noctuid 

 type ; for although the larvas of Acronycta psi and tridens 

 had long been familiar to me bj breeding, and I had 

 several times met with one or two of the others which I 

 had failed to breed, the fact of their perfectly Bombyciform 

 character had never before been prominently brought to 

 my notice. 



Seeing, then, the heterogeneous material constituting the 

 genus Acronycta, the first thing which I felt bound to do 

 was to look into the structural characters of the moths 

 themselves. After examining the neuration of all the 

 species in the National Collection I was at first staggered 

 to find that the differences between them in this respect 

 were barely sufficient to scjiaratc them generically fi'om 

 one another, and I was almost inclined to think that Dr. 

 Boisdaval had been justified in instituting the family 

 Bonibycoidce for their reception ; seeing, however, that 

 differences of greater importance existed in the palpi, I 

 was led to examine the wing-veining of all the families to 

 which the various larvte of Acronycta naturally allied 

 them ; the result was most satisfactory, as it clearly 

 demonstrated that this type of neuration was a common 

 one, re])eating itself with slight modifications in all these 

 groups of Moths. 



The neuration o? Acronycta (auct.) is as follows: — 

 Primaries, costal vein terminating at about the third 

 fourtli of costa ; subcostal five-branched, the first two 

 branches being emitted before the end of the discoidal 

 cell, the second united by means of a short oblique cross- 

 vein to the third which is trifurcate ; upper radial emitted 

 from the anterior extremity of the cell and close to the 

 origin of the third subcostal branch ; lower radial emitted 

 close to the third median branch so as almost to form a 

 fourth median nervule ; upper discocellnlar consequently 

 very long, concave ; lower discocellnlar very short ( or even 

 absent). Secondaries, with the costal and subcostal veins 

 united at their origins, the subcostal bifurcate, sometimes 

 emitting its branches at the end of the cell, sometimes 

 {Acronicta (sic) Ochs. ) beyond it, from a short footstalk; 

 radial emitted from near the centre of the discocellulars, 

 but in some species moi'e nearly ap])roximnted to the 

 median branches than in others ; upper discocellnlar angu- 



