﻿436 



LEPIDOPTEKA 



veins. There are no mandibles, but there is a short, imperfect 

 proboscis. Larva (Fig. 210) without any legs, mining in leaves. 

 The pupa (Fig. 211) is not a pupa obtecta, but has the head 

 and appendages free, and it provided with enormous mandibles. 

 Although these Insects in general appearance resemble Mrio- 

 cephala to such an extent that both have been placed in one 

 genus, viz. Micropteryx, yet the two forms are radically distinct. 



The most remarkable 

 point in Micropteryx 

 is the metamorphosis ; 

 the female moth is 

 furnished with a cut- 

 ting ovipositor, by the 

 aid of which she de- 

 posits an egg between 

 the two layers of a 

 leaf after the manner 

 of a saw-fly ; l the larva 

 mines the newly-opened 

 leaves in the early 

 spring, and feeds up 

 with rapidity ; it by 

 some means reaches 

 the ground, and there 

 pupates in a firm but 

 thin cocoon, with grains 

 of earth fastened to it ; 

 in this it passes the 



greater part of its life 

 1ig. 211. — Pupa of Mieropteryx (semipurpurel la i ). A, ° x 



Dorsal aspect ; B, C, D, views of head dissected off ; as a larva, changing to 

 B, profile ; C, posterior, D, anterior aspects ; m, a v )Ur) o yerv eirlv ill 

 mandibles. Britain. r l c J c J ^ 



the following spring. 



The pupa is unlike any other Lepidopterous pupa, but is similar 



to those of Trichoptera ; neither the head nor the appendages 



are glued to the body or to one another, but are free, so that 



the pupa can use the appendages to a considerable extent ; it is 



furnished with enormous mandibles (Fig. 211, C, D), which are 



detached and shed after emergence. 2 In the interval between 



1 Wood, Ent. May. xxvi. 1890, p. 148. 

 2 See Chapman, Tr. ent. Soc. London, 1893, p. 255. 



