437 



XVI. On the Larva and Piqm of the Genus Sabatinca 

 (Order Lepidoptera, Family Micropteiygidae). By 

 R. J. TiLLYARD, M.A., Sc.D. (Cantab.), D.Sc.(Svdnev). 

 C.M.Z.S., F.L.S., F.E.S., Entomologist and Chief ^ of 

 the Biological Department, Cawthron Institute, 

 Nelson, N.Z. 



(Read October 18th, 1922.) 



(Plate XXXIV, Text-figures 1-4). 



The Lepidoptera Homoneura at the present time contain 

 no less than seven families, divisible into two superfamiUes 

 as follows : — 



Siiperfamily MICROPTERYGOIDEA :— Micropteiy- 

 gidae, Eriocraniidae and Mnesarchaeidae. 



Siiperfamily HEPIALOIDEA :— Hepialidae, Proto- 

 theroidae, Anomosetidae and Palaeosetidae. 



Of these, the life-histories of only the Eriocraniidae and 

 Hepialidae are known at all fully. The late Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman, F.R.S., repeatedly reared the larvae of Micro- 

 pteryx, but never succeeded in getting them to pupate, so 

 that the pupa of this family remains unknown to the present 

 day. (See these Transactions, 1894, pp. 335 344 and 

 Pl- vi.) 



While working on the Micropterygoidea in 1918, I got 

 into touch with Mr. Alfred Philpott, F.E.S., then living at 

 Invercargill, N. Z., and told him that it was probable that 

 the larvae of Sabatinca were moss-feeders, as Dr. Chapman 

 had succeeded in getting species of Micropteryx to oviposit 

 on moss, and the larvae evidently fed on it. Mr. Philpott 

 had been studying the habits of a species of Sabatinca near 

 his home {S. barbarica Philp.), and at once became interested 

 in this question. He sent me a large consignment of damp 

 moss collected from the place where the adults had been 

 observed resting. This was searched through most care- 

 fully, but no larvae were found in it. About the same time, 

 Mr. Philpott wrote to me as follows : — 



" Last year, while examining moss for early stages of 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1922.— PARTS III, IV. (FEB. '23) 



