TRACHEATA 351 



pro-legs as a rule terminate in a ring or semicircle of chitinous 

 hooks. The larval life may endure from a couple of weeks to 

 three years ; it is followed by the quiescent 

 pupa stage. 



The pupa may be suspended by the hind- 

 most pro-legs, and this position may be rendered 

 the more secure by a rope of silk round the 

 thorax, as in Pieris, or the pupa may be 

 enclosed in a silken cocoon, as in the silk- 

 worm, or simply buried in the earth, as in the 

 Sphingidae. The pupa has the limbs of the 

 insect enclosed in a common covering, and is 

 hence known as a pw^ dbtecta, as opposed Fig. 201.— Cocoon 

 to thepitpa libera of the Coleoptera, in which o^ Bovihyx nwri. 

 the limbs stand out freely from the body. 



The Lepidoptera may be divided into two sub-orders : 



Sub-order 1. Microlepidoptera. 



Chaeacteeistics. — These are usually very small and delicate 

 moths, with, as a rule, long setiform antennae. The cater- 

 pillar has eight pairs of legs, terminating in a circlet of hooks 

 — "pedes coronati." 



They are as a rule secluded during daylight. Many of 

 their larvae burrow in the mesophyll of leaves or buds, or form 

 tubular cases by rolling the leaves together. 

 The following families may be mentioned : 

 Family 1. Pteeophoeidae. — Small moths with a long 

 slender abdomen and long legs. Their wings are hairy, the 

 anterior pair are usually more or less cleft, and the posterior 

 pair are divided almost to their base into three (Pterophorus), or 

 into six (Alucita), separate lobes. They form no cocoons, but 

 the larva attaches itself by its tail to some leaf or twig, sheds 

 its skin, and becomes a pupa. 



Family 2. Tineidae.— This is a very numerous family. 

 The Tineids have bristle-like antennae. Both the maxillary 

 and labial palps are well developed. The narrow wings are 

 fringed with hairs. Many of the larvae burrow in leaves, 

 others live together in nests, and they usually spin slight 



