PHOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 995 



Form II.— Pterophorid^. 



207. Triclioptilus, Wlsghm. 1880. 



ISlO.—Paludum Z. Is. 18il, 866 ; L. E. VI. 400 ; Stt. . Germ.(s)? ; 

 Cat. Suppl. 13 ; HS. 19,V p. 382 ; Hein.— Austr. inf ; 

 Wck. 810 ; Snell. II, 2, p. 1057 ; Leech Helv ; Angl ; 

 Pteroph t. 18, f. 8; Meyi. 431; Hofm Bat; Fen; 



Pteroph 122 Liv ; Gal. 



alp ; Cat. 



(Extract from Slaiidinger and Rebel's " Catalog der Lepidojjteren des 

 Palwarctischen Faunengehietes.") 



Form III. — Pterophorid^. 



Head often with fork«d scales, forehead smooth or with conical 

 "horny prominence or tuft of scales, ocelli usually obsolete. Tongue 

 •developed. Maxillary palpi obsolete. Forewing with 5 remote from 

 •4, neuration often much degraded, usually cleft into two (rarely three 

 or four) segments. Hindwing with 5 remote from 4, 7 remote from 6 ; 

 tower surface with a more or less developed double row of dark spine- 

 like scales on lower margin of cell ; ^ang usually cleft into three seg- 

 ments. Cilia containing ramified hair-scales. 



This is one of the two groups of Microlepidoptera covered by the 

 popular term " Plume-moths," the wings being cut by longitudinal 

 ■clefts into indistinct segments which in some genera have a feathery 

 appearance. On this account the members of this group are generally 

 •easy to recognize, but there is one section (the Agdistinae) in which 

 the wings are not cleft, although even here there is some diminution 

 of scaling on the areas which are developed into clefts in the other 

 «ub-families. 



The Pterophoridae are easily separated from all other Lepidoptera, 

 however, by the series of spine-like scales on the lower surface of <^he 

 hindwing. 



The family is usually considered as belonging to the Pyralidina 

 ^nd has some Pyralid affinities, but it is very isolated and it is prcbab'y 

 better to treat it as a separate entity. 



Larva rather short, usually with well developed fascicles of hairs 

 in the free-living forms, but these are necessarily much reduced in the 

 case of internal feeders. As a rule the larvae seem attached to composite 

 plants, feeding on the flowers and fruits but in a few cases they tunnel 

 in stems or fleshy fruits. Pupa usually hairy, attached by the tail by 



