684 WILLIAM T. M. FORBES 



SUPERFAMILY DREPANOIDEA 



Ocelli and maxillary palpi absent; tongue not scaled, variable in 

 strength, absent in Oreta; antennas normally deeply prismatic, rarely 

 slender or pectinate, sometimes with very little scaling on shaft ; palpi 

 small or moderate. Body relatively small and stout, stumpy looking, 

 appearing larger in the Thyatiridae on account of the deep vestiture, 

 abdomen broadly attached to thorax, legs rather weak. Tergopleural 

 groove of basal segment of abdomen much enlarged, opening into a 

 large cavity covered by a lateral chitinous area representing the tym- 

 panic structures; our species also with a chitinized subventral bulla at 

 the base of the abdomen, divided in two parts; thorax not modified. 

 Fore wings typically with a long slender accessory cell, lost in a few 

 exotic forms; sometimes with R, and R.,, R 4 and R 5 separately stalked 

 together, "R^ free, and all radials present. M 2 variable in position; 

 in our species always at least twice as near M., as IV^ in the hind 

 wing and often in the fore wing; 1st A wholly lost, 2d A and 3d A 

 normal. Hind wing with R x obsolete at extreme base of wing, Sc 

 and R closely parallel to well beyond end of cell, or anastomosing 

 beyond end of cell; humeral angle sometimes expanded, and frenulum 

 occasionally lost; 1st A lost, 2d A normal, 3d A often very weak. Base 

 of Sc much swollen in Oreta. 



Egg of flat type ; larva with hooks of prolegs biordinal, except in 

 Eudeilinea, normally with a few outer hooks also. Front small ; head 

 more or less bilobed, and often decidedly wider than high, with 

 primary setae only. Body with a few subprimaries, sometimes with 

 only vi duplicated ; in other forms with a few subdorsal warts ; vii 

 composed of two or more setae on the meso- and metathorax (unlike 

 the simple-haired members of the Noctuidas and related families). 

 Ventral prolegs equal, anals somewhat reduced, and raised at rest 

 (Thyatiridae, Brahimeidae), or absent (Drepanidas). Pupa not well 

 known, thin-skinned, in Oreta rosea cylindrical, tapering very abruptly 

 at posterior end; no sutures on head; prothorax of macro type, broad 

 and rounded out; labial palpi showing as a minute area at base of 

 tongue, which is about a third the length of the wing (doubtless longer 

 in other genera); femora covered; fore and middle tarsi meeting on 

 middle line (probably a merely generic character) ; antennae shorter 

 than middle legs, filiform ; and neither middle legs nor antennae reach- 

 ing tip of wings. Tips of hind tarsi exposed; some rudiments of 

 abdominal spining; cremaster rudimentary, without seta?. Setae 

 indistinct. 



