oe ote 
VOL. XXI. APRIL, 1914. No. 2 
THE NORTH AMERICAN FAMILIES OF LEPIDOPTERA. 
By Wo. T. M. Forsss, 
Worcester, Mass. 
The following is an attempt to present in tabular form the 
differences in the families of Lepidoptera which occur in the 
United States, to which the few well characterized Central Amer- 
ican families of Macros have been added for completeness. None 
of the accepted lists have been followed strictly in family delim- 
itation. but on the other hand none of the changes is new. The 
butterflies are according to the system followed by Scudder and 
Comstock; the Macro-heterocera follow Dyar’s list with a couple 
of changes; the Tineids are separated along the lines laid down 
in various papers by Busck, with the addition of the primitive 
families recognized by Spuler in the European fauna. 
As compared with Dyar’s list the principal changes are the 
following: 
The Parnassiide are combined with the Papilionide. 
The Agapetide, Heliconide, Ithomyide, Lymnadide, Liby- 
theidee, and Nymphalidz are combined as Nymphalide. 
The Megathymide with the Hesperiide. 
The Nycteolide with the Noctuide, following Hampson. I 
am not at all sure that the union is justified, but no satisfactory 
family characters have been developed, and a number of the 
genera are doubtful. The most distinct characters of the Nycteo- 
lidee are the slender male frenulum-hook, the peculiarly enlarged 
and bent basal joint of the antenna, the head-vestiture, and the 
raised scaling. The last is shared by various Noctuids, and inter- 
grades seem to occur in the case of the other characters. The 
peculiar wing-form, which seems to have first given Nycteola 
its family status, is not shared by our second species, Characoma 
nilotica (=N. proteella). 
