FAMILY ZYG^ENID^. 21 



In retaining Latreille's term "family" for these large groups 

 of moths, I am aware that I go contrary to the practice of mod- 

 ern lepidopterists who give names to very small groups of 

 genera after raising them to the rank of "families." 



Subfamily CASTNIARES Boisduval.* 



The family name given by Boisduval to this group is adopted 

 instead of Latreille's term Hesperi- Sphinges. 



This group is a difficult one to characterize, owing to the 

 great diversity among the genera, so few of which we have been 

 able to examine. As it is, this description must be considered 

 as but provisional. 



The most trenchant characters are, the large head, the prom- 

 inent front, the long simple filiform, subclavate or subprisma- 

 tic antennae, the stout bushy palpi, with the terminal joint very 

 slender and projecting much beyond the head. The convex 

 clypeus is square, but often narrows in front, and is provided 

 with a mesial tubercle projecting beyond the hairs. The body is 

 stout and the thorax often pilose. The meso-scutum is longer 

 than in the ZygcsnincB^ approaching more in this respect the 

 Hesperiadse. The fore-wings are stout, broad triangular, with 

 long nervules. Secondaries broad, with very obtusely rounded 

 apices, while the internal angle reaches nearly to the tip of the 

 abdomen, which is moderately long and terminates in a slender 

 subacute tip. The legs are stout, often very hairy and some- 

 what tufted. 



The larval characters given below are drawn from the cater- 

 pillars of Alypia and Eudrj^as preserved in alcohol, and from 

 figures of those of Psycomorph.a epimeuis Harr. drawn by 

 Abbot and now in the library of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History: of the Australian Agarista fflycince Boisd. {Phalce- 

 noides glycince Lewin) ; and of the East Indian genera JEwse- 

 mla Dalman, Hypsa Hiibner, Anagnia Walker, Atteva 

 Walker, Lyclene Moore and Bizone Walker, which are figured 

 in Horsfield and Moore's " Catalogue." 



The body is elongated, cylindrical, the eighth ring is either 

 considerably enlarged, towards which the body increases in size, or 

 it is simply humped on the upper surface of the ring. From this 

 ring the end of the body rapidly diminishes in size, laterally and 



*Monogr. Zygaenides, 1829. 



