﻿vi HETEROCERA PSYCHIDAE — COSSIDAE 395 



removes the other British genera, Fumea ami Epichnopteryx, bo 

 Tineidae near Solenobia and Taleporia. The group Canephorinae, 



to which the two geneva in question belong, was long since separ- 

 ated from Psychidae by Herrich-Schaffer, but this course was 

 condemned by Heylaerts. Parthenogenesis has heen thought by 

 some to occur in numerous species in this family, but Heylaerts 

 says that it is limited to Apterona crenulella var. helix, and even 

 of this species males are found in certain localities. 



Fam. 20. Cossidae {Goat- Moths, or Carpenter -Worms). — 

 Moths of moderate, or rather large size, without proboscis, fre- 

 quently with a dense covering of matted, imperfect scales ; the 

 pattern being vague. The larvae bore into trees in 'which they 

 often make large burrows, leaving holes from which sap exudes. 

 Our common Goat-moth is a good specimen of this family, which 

 is a very widely distributed one. The Australian genus Ptilo- 

 macra has very large, pectinated antennae in the male. The 

 larvae of Cossidae are nearly bare of clothing and are unadorned ; 

 they form a slight cocoon of silk mixed with gnawed wood. 

 The pupa of the Goat-moth is remarkable for the great develop- 

 ment of the rows of teeth on the dorsal aspects of the segments 

 of the abdomen, and for the absence of consolidation in this 

 part, six of the intersegmental incisions being free, and the 

 ventral aspect almost membranous. Very little is known as to 

 other pupae of the family. It is believed that the generations 

 of these Insects are fewer than usual, the growth of the larva 

 occupying a period of two or three years. The larva of Zenzera 

 a esc id i forms a temporary cocoon in which it passes a winter- 

 sleep, before again feeding in the spring. 1 It is a moot question 

 whether the Zeuzeridae should be separated from the Cossidae or 

 not. The group includes our Wood-leopard moth, which, like 

 many other Zeuzerids, is spotted in a very striking but inartistic 

 manner. The position the family Cossidae should occupy in an 

 arrangement of the Lepidoptera is a very difficult question. Some 

 consider the Insects to be allied to Tortricidae. The wing-nervura- 

 tion of Cossus is very peculiar and complex, there being four or 

 five cells on the front wing, and three on the hind one. Meyrick 

 places Zeuzeridae as a family of his series Psychina, but separ- 

 ates Cossidae proper (he calls them Trypanidae) as a family of 

 the series Tortricina. 



1 Kalender, Eat. Znt. Stettin, xxxv. 1874, p. 203. 



