classification of the PterophoridcB. 5 



ALUCITID^. 

 Ocelli present. Maxillary palpi absent. Labial palpi lonp;, 

 curved. Wings six-cleft ; no cell. Abdominal uncus in male 

 developed. Hind wings with vein 8 free. 



The single known genus has suffered so much degra- 

 dation that it is in my opinion impossible to locate 

 it with certainty, unless earlier connecting forms are 

 hereafter discovered. The cell and many of the normal 

 veins are obsolete, so that the type of neuration cannot 

 be made oat. The genus posesses ocelli, and therefore 

 cannot be derived from the Pterophoridce (on the principle 

 that organs once lost cannot reappear) ; on the other 

 hand, the excessive fission of the wings shows that the 

 Pterophorida cannot be derived from Alucita. Notwith- 

 standing, since the neuration of Alucita, though degraded, 

 has nothing in it inconsistent with that of the Ptero- 

 pihorida, and since fission of the wings is not found in 

 any other group of Lepidoptera except these two, it 

 seems reasonable to refer the Alucitidce also to the 

 Pyralidina, with which they agree in such characters 

 as are not obscured by degradation. I consider, there- 

 fore, that we are justified in inferring that the Aluci- 

 tidcB constitute a family of Pyralidina, allied to but 

 distinct from the Pterophoridce and TineodidiP, and 

 that, like these, it originated from an extinct type 

 approaching the ancestral form of the Pyralidina. The 

 actual neuration of Alucita is given hereafter under the 

 generic heading. 



For the following partial generic revision I have 

 examined all the species which I have to hand, not a 

 very large number ; my results may therefore require 

 extension, but will, I hope, be found accurate so far as 

 they go. I find that the neuration presents the best 

 characters for generic definition, and is here, as usually, 

 the most reliable guide, and my classification is mainly 

 founded on it. The form of the wings I consider an 

 indefinite and unreliable character, but the number of 

 fissures is a good point. The thickening of the legs with 

 scales is practically of no value, as it is impossible to 

 decide where the line is to be drawn, and the same may 

 be said of the difference in length of the spurs. The 

 frontal tuft is again a doubtful character ; although so 

 strongly developed in some species, every intermediate 



