Acentropus. 125 



" Acentropus is, then, a genuine Lepidopteron, with some 

 peculiarities no doubt, but having nothing contrary to 

 the character of the Order, and capable, without ofience, 

 of being included in it, and only in the Lepidopterous 

 type. A rudimentary sucker, or even the entire absence 

 of a sucker, is not uncommon in moths, and the maxil- 

 lary threadlets of Acentropus have, in fact, a resemblance 

 to the aborted sucker of many other moths. Consider- 

 able development of the always 3-jointed labial palpi, in 

 contradistinction to the smallness of the maxillary palpi, 

 is the rule in Lepidoptera, and little or nothing can be 

 detected, in many moths, of the mandibles and the other 

 feeding apparatus. The only thing which, to my know- 

 ledge, occurs in the same fashion in no other part of the 

 Order, is the close approximation of the two pairs of 

 palpi to one another, the removal of the labial palpi up 

 to the base of the maxillas and maxillary palpi. In all 

 other Lepidoptera which I have examined, the two pairs 

 of palpi are separated by a considerable interval, while 

 the labial palpi are placed much further back, on the 

 under-surface of the head. But this is the only important 

 thing which is peculiar to Acentropus, whilst the rest of 

 its organization collectively shows the Lepidopterous type, 

 and in some of its characteristic parts in a very pro- 

 nounced form. Thus, the fastening of the wings, and 

 the tegulae, which occur in such perfection neither in the 

 Phryganeina nor in any other Order of insects. Then 

 the wing-veins, with their simple discoidal cell, the com- 

 plete covering of scales, and the appendages of the fore- 

 tibiae. Moreover, the habit of the imago has nothing 

 Phryganeous about it, and it is, in fact, scarcely con- 

 ceivable, how people can have mistaken the Lepidopterous 

 nature of the creature. It cannot even be considered as 

 an approach of the Lepidopterous type to that of the 

 Phryganeina, as in the interest of Darwinianism I had 

 hoped, since it has with the latter grovip nothing in 

 common but the mode of life and the gill-bearing larva, 

 which is found in so typical a Lepidopteron as Paraponyx 

 stratiotata. Other families of moths, as the Psyc/iidce, 

 and especially the Tineina with long maxillary palpi, 

 above all, the Micropterygidce, have much more essential 

 characters in common with the Phryganeina than Acen- 

 tropus has. The characteristic difference between Lepi- 

 doptera and Phryganeina lies in the totally different form 

 of the parts of the mouth, and these organs in Acentropus 

 in no way approach the type of the Phryganeina." 



