352 ZOOLOGY 



silken cocoons. Many of them are destructive : Tinea sarcitella 

 is the clothes moth, T. tapezella the fur moth, T. graTidla lays 

 its egg in grains of corn and the caterpillars devour the grain. 

 The genus Solenobia is parthenogenetic. 



Family 3. Toeteicidae. — The leaf-rollers have short palps 

 and oblong anterior wings. They are as a rule larger than the 

 Tineids. The moths fly at night, and lay their eggs on the 

 buds of the trees, which are attacked by their larvae. The 

 caterpillars roll the leaves into cylinders, and in these turn into 

 brown pupae in silken cocoons. Tortrkc viridana is common 

 on oak-trees. Retinia huoliana attacks pine-trees. 



Family 4. Pyealidae. — The members of this fatally bear 

 long slender palps. They are as a rule gregarious, and fly in 

 the twilight. The larvae have a glassy appearance, and bear 

 but few hairs. The female of one species, Aphomia colonella, 

 creeps into bee-hives and deposits her eggs there ; the larvae, 

 which are found in great numbers, devour the honey, to the 

 great detriment of the hives. 



Sub-order 2. Macrolepidoptera. 



Chaeacteeistics. — L&pidoptera, of large size, with a complicated 

 system, of nervures on the wings. Tlie feet are generally, 

 though hy no means always, provided with a semicircle of 

 hoohs — "pedes sub-coronati." 



I. GEOMETRINA. 



Slender moths, whose large thin wings lie horizontally 

 when at rest. The antennae are bristle-like, and in the male 

 sometimes toothed. The caterpillars have a varying number 

 of pro-legs, usually two pairs, and their manner of moving has 

 given them the name of loopers. "When at rest they fix 

 themselves by the hindmost legs and raise the anterior half 

 of the body ; in this position they may remain for hours, when 

 frightened they drop, but remain attached to their base by a 

 small thread of silk. They either spin cocoons under leaves, 

 or form brown chrysalids under the earth. 



Many are injurious to fruit trees, as Cheimatobia irumata. 



