﻿HETEROCERA CASTNIIDAE 



371 



64. Wings divided into plumes (Cat 65, 66). 



65. Fore wing divided into at most two, hind wing into three 

 plumes . . . Fam. 42. Pterophoridae, see p. 426. 



66. Fore wing and hind wing each divided into three plumes 



Fam. 43. Alucitidae I = Orneodidae), see p. 426. 



Fam. 1. Castniidae. — The Inserts of this family combine to a 

 large extent the characters of butterflies arid moths. The antennae 

 arc knobbed or hooked at the tip, there is a large precostal area to 

 the hind wing. The nervules of the front wing are complex and 

 anastomose so as to form one or more accessory cells (Fig. 162). This 

 important, but not extensive, family consists chiefly of forms found 

 in tropical America and Australia. The diversity of size, form and 

 appearance is very great, and it is probable that the members of the 

 family will be separated ; indeed, taxonomists are by no means 

 in agreement as to the limits of the family. The Castniidae 

 are diurnal Insects, and the North American genus Megathymus 



is by many con- 

 sidered to belong 

 to the Khopalo- 

 cera. Euschemon 

 raflesiae (Fig. 186) 

 is extremely like a 

 large Skipper with 

 long antennae, but 

 has a well-marked 

 frenulum. The 

 members of the 

 Australian genus 

 Synemon are much smaller, but they also look like Skippers. 

 Their habits are very like those of the Hesperiidae : they 

 Hit about in the hot sunshine, and when settling after their 

 brief flights, the fore wings are spread out at right angles to 

 the body, so as to display the mure gaily coloured hind 

 wings ; at night, or in cloudy weather, the Insect rests on 

 blades of grass with the wings erect, meeting vertically over 

 the back, like a butterfly. Hecatesia, another Australian genus, 

 is now usually assigned to Agaristidae ; its members look like 

 ninths. The male of //. fenestrata is provided with a sound- 

 producing organ similar to that of the Agaristid genus Aegocera. 

 The fast iiia of South America are many of them like 



Fig. 186. — Euschemon raffiesiae. Australia. (After 

 Doubleday. ) 



