FAMILY PERICOPID^E 



Auctorum) 



" Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, 

 Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, 

 Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, 

 Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes, 

 While every beam new transient colours flings, 

 Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings." 



PofK.Rape of the Lock. 



The following characterization of the family is taken from 

 Hampson's "Moths of India," Vol. I, p. 495: "Proboscis present. 

 Palpi smoothly scaled; the third joint long and naked. Legs 

 smooth; mid tibiae with one pair of spurs, hind tibiae with two 

 pairs. Frenulum present. Fore wing with vein \a separate from 

 ib'j ic absent; 5 from near lower angle of cell. Hind wing with 

 veins \a and ib present, \c absent; 5 from near lower angle of 

 cell; 8 free from the base and connected by a bar with 7 at middle 

 of cell. 



"Larva with all the legs present, sparsely covered with long 

 hairs. 



" Cocoon slight." 



Genus DARITIS Walker 



A small genus of rather showy moths, which is represented in 

 our fauna by two species. 



(i) Daritis thetis Klug, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 5, <?. 

 The insect occurs in southern Arizona. 



Genus COMPOSIA Hubner 



(i) Composia fidelissima Herrich-Schaeffer, Plate XXXVIII, 

 Fig. 4, 3. 



Syn. olympia Butler. 



289 



