40 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [February, 



maries with a rounded apex, below which there is a variably dis- 

 tinct excision, in some exotic species so strongly marked as to 

 make the wings distinctly falcate. As a whole, the wing outline 

 is extremely graceful, no sudden or sharp angles presenting any- 

 where. In the cocoons there is a decided tendency to a doub- 

 ling, most marked in cecropia, but obvious in all the species 

 known to me. They also are attached to the plants on which 

 the insects feed, in a majority of the cases, though this feature 

 varies. Those of Columbia and cecropia are often, if not usu- 

 ally, attached to twigs or branches their full length; those of 

 cynthia znd promethea are enveloped by a leaf and attached by a 

 pedicel to the twig; and those oi angulifera are not attached in any 

 way, but fall to the ground with the leaves. In the Saturniinae we 

 have a very decided difference in wing form. The apex of prima- 

 ries is distinctly pointed or angular, and the outer margin, though 

 it may be excised, is never gracefully swung. Everywhere the 

 angles are obtrusive, and there is a clumsy appearance as a rule. 

 In luna this is much less noticeable, owing to the handsome tails. 

 The antennal development is much less perfect, and we find, 

 in the female^, first a short ending of one pair of pectinations, 

 then the disappearance of one pair and the shortening of the 

 other, and finally the pectinations disappear entirely. The num- 

 ber and comparative length of the segments is not changed, 

 however, and in the males the typical family structure is distinct 

 in all cases, though the pectinations may not be equally long. 

 The cocoons are usually distinctly single, and, as usually, drop 

 to the ground with the leaves; if, indeed, the larva does not de- 

 scend to the ground to pupate. 



The most obvious character of the Ceratocampidae has already 

 been stated. It is found in the fact that the antennal pectinations 

 extend to the middle only. In the female the pectinations are 

 very short, or the antennae are simple. The venation is, in its 

 main features, not unlike that of the Saturniidae, but we notice a 

 very obvious tendency to some of the following families in the 

 very decided shortening of the median cell, and a corresponding 

 increase in the length of the veins arising from it. This feature 

 is distinctive of a small group of families, and associates the 

 Ceratocampidae much more nearly with the Lasiocampidae than 

 with the Saturniidae. Vein five, of the primaries, while much 

 nearer to the subcostal than to the median series, usually arises 



