﻿IIKTEROCERA PYRALIDAE 42 I 



Meyrick — have recently been revised by two naturalists of dis- 

 tinction almost simultaneously; unfortunately their results are 

 discrepant, Meyrick including Pterophoridae and Orneodidae, 

 and yet admitting in all only eight families ; while Bagonot does 

 not include the two groups named, but defines seventeen tribes 

 of the two families — Pyralidae and Crambidae — that he admits. 

 The Pyraustidae of Meyrick is an enormous division including 

 the Hydrocampidae and Scopariidae of many authors, as well as 

 the Pyraustinae proper and a small group of Ragonot's, the 

 Homophysinae. The division Scopariinae is believed to be 

 amongst the " most ancient " of Lepidoptera ; the food of the 

 larvae consists of moss and lichens. This group is widely dis- 

 tributed, being richly represented in Australia, New Zealand, 

 and the Hawaiian Islands, as well as in Europe; and probably 

 really occurs wherever their food-plants exist accompanied by 

 a tolerable climate. The statistics of the distribution of this 

 group, so far as at present known, have been furnished by 

 Mr. Meyrick, as follows: — European region, al tout 25 species; 

 Madeira, 3 ; St. Helena, G ; South Africa, 2 or 3 : India, 9 ; 

 Malayan region, 3 or 4 ; Australia, 24 ; New Zealand, G4 ; 

 Hawaiian Islands, 50; North America, 17 (one of them Euro- 

 pean); South America, 10. The Hydrocampinae — the China- 

 marks — are of great interest, as being amongst the few forms 

 of Lepidoptera adapted for aquatic life. It is believed that all 

 their larvae are aquatic, though of only a few is there much 

 known. The diversity amongst these forms is of considerable 

 interest. The habits of Hydrocampa nymphaeata were long since 

 described by Reaumur, and have more recently been dealt with 

 by Buckler/ W. Muller 2 and Prof. Miall. 3 Although there are 

 some discrepancies in their accounts, due we believe to the 

 observations being made at different periods of the life and under 

 somewhat different circumstances, yet the account given by 

 Muller is we feel no doubt substantially correct. The larvae 

 when hatched mine in the leaves of a water-plant for a short 

 time — thirty hours to three days according to Buckler — and are 

 completely surrounded by water, which penetrates freely into 

 their burrows ; at this period the caterpillar breathes by its 

 skin, the spiracles being very small, and the tubes leading from 



1 Eat. Mag. xii. 1876, p. 210, and xvii. 1881, j». 249. 

 2 Zool. Jahrb. Syst. vi. 1S92, p. 017. :! Nat. Hist. Aquatic Insects, London, 1895. 



