THE PYRALIDINA. . 323 



all the wings there is a black dot. The wings of the 

 male are large and broad, but the female is altogether 

 destitute of those organs, and presents simply an 

 elliptical body, with well-developed legs and antennae ; 

 she is of a whitish colour, with black bands on the 

 thorax and black dots on the abdomen, and her legs 

 are ringed with yellow and black. On quitting the 

 earth the female creeps up the stems of the trees to 

 the top, where she awaits the arrival of her partner, 

 who has certainly far less trouble in reaching his desti- 

 nation ; she then lays her eggs and soon dies. The 

 number of eggs laid by a single female, according to 

 Schmidberger, is about two hundred, so that if a few 

 females select the same tree for the reception of their 

 offspring, we can easily understand that the latter 

 will do no small damage to it in the ensuing spring. 



The Moths of the next tribe, which has received 

 the name of PYRALIDINA, from that of its typical 

 genus Pyralis, are generally to be distinguished at 

 the first glance by the completely triangular form 

 which they present when their wings are closed in 

 repose. Their anterior wings generally widen gra- 

 dually from the base to the apex, which forms an 

 acute angle, whilst the apical margin is frequently 

 cut off" nearly straight, so that when these wings are 

 brought together, the whole insect forms an almost 

 equilateral triangle. All the wings are surrounded 

 by fringes of moderate length, and the hinder pair, 

 which are more or less rounded, are adorned with 

 markings usually as bright and varied as those of the 

 anterior pair. The antennae in these insects are of 

 considerable length, generally at least twice as long 



