96 John Heyiry Comstock 



As to the cause of this strange specialization I can only con- 

 jecture that in the primitive Coleoptera the habits of the 

 insects were such that the protection of the wings by elytra 

 was of more importance than that the first pair should be 

 functional ; cephalization was sacrificed in order that the re- 

 maining pair of wings might be protected. It may be that 

 the primitive Coleoptera were wood borers, the only paleozoic 

 remains supposed to be of beetles are borings ; or their habits 

 may have been like those of the recent Carabidse. In either 

 case the wings would be in need of special protection. 



PART III. 



A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE 

 LEPIDOPTERA. 



In this place I purpose to state briefly the conclusions that 

 I have reached regarding the phylogeny of the families of the 

 Lepidoptera. These conclusions are the results of an effort 

 to read the record of the action of natural selection as recorded 

 in the wings of these insects. Owing to the limited time at 

 my disposal, but little attention has been given to the evi- 

 dence presented by other parts of the body ; and for the same 

 reason I have been able to study the Tineids, Tortricids, and 

 Pyralids hardly at all. The following classification is, there- 

 fore, merely a provisional one ; and is put forth chiefly as a 

 record of the results that I have obtained up to this time in 

 applying the method outlined in the preceding pages. 



I confidently expect, however, that the principal conclu- 

 sions stated here will be confirmed by a stud}' of other parts 

 of the body ; for in Nature's court the testimony of different 

 witnesses if rightly understood will agree. If any of the con- 

 clusions should prove to be incorrect, the fault will be 

 found to lie with the translator and not in the record. 



The fullness of the discussion that has already been given 

 of the ways in which wings are modified will warrant consid- 

 erable condensation in the following outline. I will first in- 

 dicate the relations of the proposed divisions to each other by 

 means of a table ; and will afterwards give fuller characteriza- 

 tion of these divisions. 



