34 



antennae and of the veins of the wings, which BoisduTal has not no- 

 ticed, are far more distinctive. M. Boisduval's next tribe, Endromi- 

 des, is a very artificial one, consisting of the two genera Aglaia and En- 

 dromis, which possess hut little in commoii : Aylaia Tau, in fact, pos- 

 sesses the broad, flat, pennate, male antennas of Saturnia, with which 

 it also agrees in each joint emitting four branches, two at the base and 

 two at the apex, the latter pair being shorter and more slender than the 

 former ; moreover, each branch of the former pair has its fore-margin 

 fringed with very delicate hairs, directed of course to the tip of the 

 antennae, and its apex is furnished with two stronger bristles, also ex- 

 tended in the same direction, and each of the latter pair of branches 

 has its hinder margin similarly fringed, the hairs of course being di- 

 rected towards the base of the antennae, and nearly meeting the op- 

 posite row of hairs supplied by the basal branches of each joint. This 

 very peculiar structure, also possessed by the giant Saturnics (alone, 

 as I believe), has not been previously noticed by any writer with whose 

 works I am acquainted, and would most probably afford physiological 

 peculiarities of much interest. The veins of the wings of Aglaia are 

 also disposed on the same general plan as in the Satiii-nice, namely 

 the apical portion of the fore-wing is traversed by six branches, three 

 arising from the great median vein and three from the post-costal 

 vein, the two hindermost of the latter uniting together near the 

 middle of the wing : there is however this difference between the 

 wings of Aglaia and Saturnia ; namely, that whereas in Saturnia the 

 first branch of the post-costal vein is very minute, consisting of a 

 scarcely visible, almost transverse veinlet, occurring halfway between 

 the tip of the costal vein and the extremity of the wing, in Aglaia 

 this first branch of the post-costal vein is longer than all the rest, 

 arising at about one-third of the length of the wing from the base. 

 Thus Aglaia and Saturnia agree in possessing a simple costal vein, a 

 post-costal vein with five branches, a median vein with three branches, 

 and a simple anal vein. We also find that, like Saturnia, all the wings 

 in Aglaia are marked in the middle with an eye-shaped spot. Bois- 

 duval however appears to have considered that the transformations 

 of Aglaia were the chief groiuids for separating it from the Satur- 

 nides : he describes the larvae of A. Tau as " rugulosae, per juventu- 

 tem spinigerae ; adultae muticae. FolUculum sub-nuUum. Puppa 

 muscis vel foliis demortius obtecta*." 



From the preceding considerations I am mduced to regard Aglaia 

 as belonging to the same subsection or tribe as Saturnia, considering 

 the differences of metamorphosis existing between them as more than 

 counterbalanced by the striking similarity of their more important 

 characters in the perfect state. As to the connexion between Aglaia 

 and Endromis, proposed by Boisduval, I cannot consider it as pos- 

 sessed of any real existence, Endromis having a totally different 

 arrangement of the wing-veins, the apical portion of the fore-wings 

 being traversed by seven branches, namely four arising from the me- 

 dian vein, and three simple ones arising from the post-costal vein, the 



* Op. cit. supr. p. 74. 



