LEPIDOPTERA. 275 



Tineina is a very large group, chiefly composed of 

 very small Moths, and which has attracted much atten- 

 tion on account of the variety of habit among the 

 larvae. The Moths are slender-bodied and very fragile, 

 their most striking features being the extreme length of 

 the hair or scales which fringe the wings. The form of 

 the wings varies in different families. Some are wing- 

 less or nearly wingless in the female sex. The antennae 

 too, short in some families and genera, are to be found 

 in some cases of more than six times the length of the 

 body. 



The group contains fifteen families, nearly a hundred 

 genera, and between six and seven hundred species. The 

 common Clothes Moths, and the exquisite little families of 

 Leaf-Miners (see PI. XI., fig. 4), sometimes spangled and 

 banded with gold and silver, belong to this, the most 

 numerous family of the tribe. Many wingless females are 

 found among species whose larvae live in portable cells. 



The eighth family, Pterophorina, is easily recognised, 

 containing only the ten-plume Moths (see PL XI. fig. 5), 

 the white species of which, common in strawberry beds, 

 is perhaps one of the best known as well as most beau- 

 tiful of insects. Their bodies and legs are very long ; 

 their fore-wings split into two, and the hind-wings into 

 three plumes. They fly at twilight. 



Alucitina contains the twenty- (more correctly twenty- 

 four) plume Moths. Only one species is known in 

 England (see PL XI., fig. 6) an inconspicuously coloured 

 insect, which, however, standing always expanded, so as 

 to form the most exquisite little feather-fan, has pro- 

 bably attracted the attention of most persons. 



T 2 



