LEPIDOPTERA, 205 
PrarypTerrx, Lasp.—Drepana, Schr. 
Closely resemble the true Phalene. Their wings are broad, and 
the superior angle of the posterior extremity of the upper ones is 
salient or falcated. The body is slender. That of the caterpillars 
terminates in a simple and truncated point. They bend the edges 
of the leaves, on which they live and feed, and fix them in that posi- 
tion by means of silk. Their cocoon is very slight, and, in a word, 
these Lepidoptera are connected with the Dicranoura in their larve 
state, and with the Phalznites as perfect Insects(1). 
Those which compose the fifth section of the nocturnal Lepidop- 
tera, that of the Nocruztirss, Lat., are similar to the preceding 
Insects in the figure and relative size of the wings, and in their posi- 
tion when at rest, but present the two following distinguishing cha- 
racters: a horny, and most commonly long, spirally rolled probos- 
cis; inferior palpi abruptly terminated by a very small or much 
more slender joint than the preceding one; the latter much wider, 
and strongly compressed. 
The body of the Noctuzlites is more covered with scales than 
with a woolly down. Their antennz are usually simple. The back 
of the thorax is frequently tufted, and the abdomen forms an elon- 
gated cone; they fly with great rapidity. Some of them appear dur- 
ing the day. 
Their caterpillars usually have sixteen feet; the others have two 
or four less, but the two posterior, or anals, are never absent, and in 
those which present but twelve, the anterior pair of the membra- 
nous ones are as large as the next. Most of these caterpillars enclose 
themselves in a cocoon to complete their metamorphosis. 
This section embraces the Noctue of Linnzus. 
All the generic sections made in modern times, the characters of 
which are rather taken from the Insect in its larva state than when 
perfect, belong to the two following subgenera. 
(1) The Phalxna falcataria, Ph. lacertinaria, Fab., and his Bombyx compressa, 
Tat first intended to form a particular section with this subgenus, which would 
have been intermediate between the Pseudo-Bombyces and the Phalenites. Och- 
senheimer places it at the end of the Noctuz, to pass from the Enclidiz to the 
preceding section; but the Platypterices appear to us more nearly allied in their 
caterpillar state to the Harpyiz of that naturalist, than to the Enclidie and other 
Noctuz, whose caterpillars are pseudo-geometre. 
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