LEPIDOPTERA. 



309 



very broadly so ; the wingless females have serrate or nar- 

 rowly pectinate antennae. The ocelli are wanting. The 

 legs are clothed with _ m _, 



woolly hairs; when 

 the insect is at rest 

 the fore legs are usu- 

 ally stretched for- 

 ward, and are very 

 conspicuous on ac- 

 count of these long 

 hairs. The venation 

 of the wings is rep- 

 resented by Figure 

 375 ; in this respect 

 these moths are very 

 similar to the Noc- 

 tuids ; in fact we 

 have been unable to 

 find as yet any con- 

 stant feature in the 



StrUCtureof the Wines FlG- 37S —Wings of Notolofhus leucostigma. 



o 



of either family that will serve to separate the two. But in 

 the Lymantriidae the antennae are pectinate and the ocelli are 

 absent ; while in the Noctuidae the antennae are usually sim- 

 ple and the ocelli are usually present ; and when the antennae 

 are pectinate the ocelli, in all cases known to us, are pres- 

 ent : in this way a distinction is preserved between the two 

 families. Although it is hard to find a distinction between 

 the two that can be put into words, the general appearance 

 of the Tussock-moths is very different from that of the 

 Noctuids, and entomologists have no difficulty in deciding to 

 which family any species belongs. The Tussock-moths are 

 chiefly nocturnal ; but the males of Notolophus fly in the 

 daytime. 



The larvae of our native species are very characteristic in 

 appearance. The body is hairy; there are several con- 



