1 [2 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. 



Family L— GEOMETRID^ mihi. 



Antennoe setaceous, pectinated, or ciliated in the males, sometimes simply pu- 

 bescent, in the females mostly simple, rarely serrated. Palpi rather short, 

 triarticulate, slightly or not at all porrected beyond the head, pilose or 

 velvety: maa:«'//ff generally membraneous, sometimes long, distinct, occasion- 

 ally short, or altogether obhterated : thoi-ax not crested nor tufted, generally 

 velvety: wings slightly deflexed or horizontally extended, not divided nor 

 convoluted, generally of a slighter texture and larger in proportion than those 

 of the two preceding sections, and destitute of stigmata: abdomen, except in 

 some females, long and slender, with a sUght anal tuft: legs rather short and 

 slender ; anterior tihi(B generally with a spine within ; intermediate mostly 

 with a pair of spurs at the apex, and posterior usually with a pair in the 

 middle, and another pair at the apex. 



Larva geometric (or loopers), naked or furnished with a few short hairs, some- 

 times tuberculated: legs variable from ten to fourteen, the six anterior and 

 two anal ones ahvays present ; the former and the four posterior alone used in 

 ■walking. Pupa various ; sometimes angulated, most frequently folliculated, 

 the foUiculus attached to leaves, sometimes superficial, or more or less sub- 

 terraneous. 



The larvEe of this family are pre-eminently distinguished for their 

 singular motion : they are for the most part destitute of abdominal 

 legs, and during repose adhere firmly, generally in an oblique 

 position, by their anal ones, which are always four in number, 

 to the twio-s of the trees upon which they subsist, and in many in- 

 stances their resemblance thereto is so complete as to deceive the 

 beholder : when preparing to move they extend their bodies in all 

 directions, as if measuring their distance (thence {i2\\eA geoyneters) ; 

 and when they actually progress they lay hold of the substance upon 

 which they are moving with their six anterior legs, and bring the 

 posterior forward, thereby forming their body into an arch or loop ; 

 but they rarely proceed onwards without, as it were, measuring 

 their distance at every step. 



These beautiful insects are manifestly susceptible of distribution 

 into several genera. Treitschke has divided the European species 

 into 19 very artificial ones, based upon the divisions of the Wiener 

 Verzeichnis : in my Systematic Catalogue, published two years 



_,^ since (or rather in my Nomenclature, which appeared previously), 



1 divided the indigenous species into 61, from the examination 

 of the specimens in my own collection ; and a little subsequently, 



