RHIPIPTERA. 445 



G. cereana, Fab. About five lines in length ; cinereous ; head and thorax 

 paler, and little brown spots along the internal margin of the superior wings. 



Reaumur designates its caterpillar by the name of fausse-teigne de la cire, 

 It ravages hives by penetrating into the combs, constructing, as it progresses, 

 a silken tube covered with granules, which are formed of the wax on which it 

 feeds. The cocoons of their chrysalides are sometimes found collected in piles. 



TINEA, 



Where the proboscis is very short and formed of two little membranous and 

 separated threads. The head is crested. 



P. tapezana, Fab. Upper wings black ; their posterior extremity, as well 

 as the head, white. 



The caterpillar attacks cloth and other woollen stuffs, on which it lies con- 

 cealed in a semi-tubular sheath formed of their particles, which it lengthens as 

 it advances. 



T. pellionella, Fab. Upper wings silver grey, with one or two black dots on 

 each. The caterpillar inhabits a felted tube on furs ; it cuts the hairs at base 

 and rapidly destroys them. The 



T.Jlavifrontella, Fab., ravages cabinets of natural history in the same way. 



T. granella, Fab. Its upper wings are marbled with grey, brown and 

 black, and turned up posteriorly. The caterpillar fausse-teigne des bles 

 connects several grains of wheat with silk, and forms a tube from which it 

 occasionally issues to feed upon those seeds. It is very noxious. 



10. The FISSIPENN.*; are closely related to the preceding insects so far as 

 relates to the narrow and elongated form of the body and upper wings, but are 

 removed from them, as well as from all others of this order, by the four wings, 

 or at least two, being split longitudinally in the manner of branches or fingers 

 with fringed edges, and resembling feathers. The wings resemble those of 

 birds. They constitute the subgenus 



PTEKOPHORUS. 



The caterpillars have sixteen feet, and live on leaves or flowers without 

 constructing a tube. 



ORDER XL 



RHIPIPTERA. 



THIS order was established by Mr. Kirby under the name of Stresiptera 

 (twisted wings), on certain insects remarkable for their anomalous form and 

 irregular habits. 



From the two sides of the anterior extremity of the trunk, near the neck 

 and the exterior base of the two first legs, are inserted two 

 small, crustaceous, moveable bodies, in the form of little elytra, 

 directed backwards, that are narrow, elongated, clavate, 

 curved at the extremity, and terminate at the origin of the 

 wings. As elytra, properly so called, always covers the whole 

 or the base of the latter organs and arise from the second segment of the 



