176 LEPIDOPTERA. 



FAMILY IX. Psychidce. 



Size small ; male with broad wings, and strongly pectinated 

 antennae ; female always apterous, and with simple antennae ; larva 

 living in a case. 



The males are black, brown, or white moths, rarely exceeding 

 an inch in expanse, which are found in meadows flying weakly 

 among the grass like Zygcenidce. The female is always apterous, 

 and in some genera is almost destitute of limbs, never quitting the 

 case. The larvae construct cases for themselves from scraps of 

 vegetable matter, like the Caddis-worms, in which they change to 

 pupae. 



FAMILY X. Notodontidce. 



Size moderate; antennae generally pectinated in the males; 

 wings moderately broad, larvae frequently humped, or with the 

 claspers (or last pair of pro-legs) converted into long caudal appen- 



The genus Cerura, Schrank, includes several white species 

 with darker markings. The largest British species, which some- 

 times expands three inches, is known to collectors as the Puss 

 Moth, and the smaller species are called " Kittens." Their green 

 larvae are marked on the back with reddish brown and white, and 

 the tail is furnished with two tubular appendages, from which the 

 insect can protrude red filaments. These larvae feed on willow, 

 poplar, etc. 



Several genera of this family are of rich dark colours, such 

 as the Pebbles (Notodonta, Ochs.) and Chocolate Tips (Clostera, 

 Schrank). Others, like the Swallow Prominents (Pheosia, Hiibn.), 

 are white, with brown markings. One of the prettiest species of 

 this family is Spatalia Bicolom, W. V., a great rarity in England ; 

 it is snow-white, with two orange spots in the middle of the fore 

 wings, and expands about an inch and a quarter. Staurepus Fagi, 

 Linn., also a somewhat uncommon species in England, is a brown 

 moth, two inches and a half in expanse ; but the larva, from which it 

 derives its name, is reddish brown, with very long sprawling legs, and 

 has sometimes been compared to a lobster, and sometimes to a spider. 



Edema Albifrons, Abbot and Smith, is a grey North American 

 moth, with a broad white stripe along the costa. 



Cnethecampa Processionea, Linn., is a greyish-brown moth about 

 an inch and a quarter in expanse. It is not British, and is 



