NOTES ON CERTAIN SCOPARI^. 



115 



T now propose to view these four insects as a group, and in 

 doing so trust that your readers will take me seriously, for I can 

 assure them that I am very much in earnest, though my methods 

 may appear to be grotesque. If the student will look at the fore 

 wing of either of these Scoparige he will find that the middle and 

 apical areas (that is, the space bounded by the first line, the 

 costa (in part), the hind margin, and the dorsal margin (in part) ) 

 present the similitude of a human head, the features looking 

 basewards ; humanity, it is true, of a low type, with very 

 receding forehead and deficient cranial development, but still 

 sufficiently appreciable for the purpose we have in hand. The 

 reader will see, by my rough caricatures below, to which I have 

 got Mr. Victor Prout to put respectable bodies and limbs, the 

 portion of the wing to which reference is made, and will be able 

 to clearly define the forehead, eyebrow, bridge of the nose, lower 

 border or septum of the nose, wing or ala of the nose, upper lip, 

 mouth, lower lip, chin, jaw, and cranium, encased in head-gear. 

 I have considered it enough to indicate the position of the eye 

 (renal stigma) with a cross. The long narrow head of atomelis 



S. atomalis. 



ambigualis. 



N 



basistngalis. ulmella. 



will be noted ; the sharp nose, compressed lips, mouth projecting 

 forwards, and the angulated chin of basistrigaUs compared with 

 ambigualis ,- and the short upper lip, the small mouth, and long 

 straightish projecting chin of ulmella will be remarked ; but of 

 course, in their examinations, a little allowance must be made 

 for individual variation, since no two animals or plants are ever 

 exactly alike in every respect ; the shepherd knows every sheep 

 in his flock by the expressions of their faces ; the striped ribbon 

 fescue grass of our gardens, in some parts, goes by the name of 

 " match-me-if-youcan." Now, what I want the student to do is 

 carefully to compare, at first, the photographs accompanying 

 this paper by the light of the suggestions made, and afterwards 

 to examine actual specimens (decent, recognisable ones, mind), 

 when I shall be very much surprised if he does not in future 

 come to regard the Scopariae with a new interest, and find these 



