L.EPIDOPTERA FIUVETEROCEBA 
derived. It may be added that from nearly the same point rise the Psychodidae, which are the ancestral 
family of the Diptera. Extraordinary interest therefore attaches to the group in the evolutional history 
of insects, and it is very desirable that collectors in little-worked regions should look out for additional 
connecting forms. I am of opinion that damp places or maigins of brooks in forests of conifers at high 
elevations in early spring are likely to produce such forms; the Himalaya mountains are a probable 
locality for interesting discoveries, as also any anciently-isolated permanent land-area, such as New 
Zealand, but it is remarkable that the family does not appear to be represented in the aboriginal 
Australian fauna. 
'These insects are difficult of observation and likely to be overlooked, and it is probable that those 
at present known give a very incomplete representation even of existing forms; hence it is unsafe to 
generalise much from their distribution. But it is apparent that the family is characteristic of temperate 
regions; and their known foodplants are still more so. As the family is shown to have antedated the 
Lepidoptera and. Diftera generally. it must have been in existence earlier than the Jurassic period ; and as 
the imagos of the most primitive known forms are pollen-feeders, and their larvae feed on mosses ( Musei), 
they might have existed as far back as the Carboniferous, but this is improbable. This remoteness of 
origin in time makes their place of origin still more dubious; but it must have been in approximate 
communication with New Zealand, and an Antarctic continent seems the most likely suggestion, and 
would apparently fulfil the necessary conditions. 
Ovum in Eriocranianae rounded-cylindrical, placed in a pocket cut within the substance of the 
leaf by a serrated lancet-like implement in the abdomen of the Q ; in Microfteryx spherical, studded with 
minute erect rods. Larva in Eriocranianae apodal, head small, segments 2-4 broad, with minute protusible 
subdorsal and supraventral papilla, 5 with lateral projections, thence tapering posteriorly ; in Microfteryx 
stout, with legs on segments 2-4, hooked prolegs on 5-12, and a trilobed anal sucker beneath, eight rows 
of subglobose tubercular processes, paired on four longitudinal ridges, antennce well-developed, four- 
jointed. Pupa with all segments free, subterranean or in a cocoon amongst refuse. Imago of small size, 
forewings ovate-lanceolate with bronzy-golden and purple colouring, flying in the sunshine, often 
almost invisible when on the wing. 
There can be no question that the Micropteryginae are the most ancestral group, almost all 
details of structure being in their primitive condition, but apparently the existence of a more ancient 
similar type with two spurs on the middle tibiz is indicated. The radical modification of the mouth- 
parts which marks the passage to the Errocranianae has seemed to some authors so important that they 
have desired to separate those two groups as distinct families, orders, or even subclasses; to me, on the 
contrary, the case appears a good instance of the small systematic value which is sometimes attributable 
to purely biological changes of structure. Intermediate forms must once have existed, and may possibly 
be found to exist still. The Maesarchaeinae have undergone so much further change that, if the hindwings 
were removed and the jugum not observed, they differ in no essential particular from typical Plutellidae. 
KEY TO THE GENERA 
1 Madalettbvae auth atleast; one Spur Re M T C 
— Middle tibiae without sbuys. «3 S UMS ES TUEMERR CI MT MM. 
2. Middle tibiae with two apical spurs 2. 2. . . . I. Genus MNESARCHzA, Meyrick. 
— Middle tibiae wil one apical spur 7 SAT TSTISCTTTCTCTP 0 
Si Eroxewtings Vi: vet OT0F PI OVRDSCA D n E NM NET M MN 
— Forewings with veius g and ro present ....— . 4... . . .. 4. Genus MNEMONICA, nov. gen 
4. Forewings with 9 out of 7, ro absent... S sms 2: Genus. NEOPSEUSRIS] Meyrick. 
