MOTHS — EUPTEROTIDAE — PEROPHORIDAE 377 



The larvae of the South American genus Palustra, though 

 hairy like other Eupterotid caterpillars, are aquatic in their 

 habits, and swim by coiling themselves and making movements 

 of extension ; the hair on the back is in the form of dense 

 brushes, but at the sides of the body it is longer and more 

 remote ; when the creatures come to the surface — which is but 

 rarely — the dorsal brushes are quite dry, while the lateral hairs 

 are wet. The stigmata are extremely small, and the mode of 

 respiration is not fully known. It was noticed that when 

 taken out of the water, and walking in the open air, these 

 caterpillars have but little power of maintaining their 

 equilibrium. They pupate beneath the water in a singular 

 manner : a first one having formed its cocoon, others come suc- 

 cessively and add theirs to it so as to form a mass.^ Another 

 species of Palustra, P. burmeisteri, Berg," is also believed to 

 breathe by means of air entangled in its long clothing ; it 

 comes to the surface occasionally, to renew the supply ; the 

 hairs of the shorter brushes are each swollen at the extremity, 

 but whether this may be in connexion with respiration is not 

 known. This species pupates out of the water, between the 

 leaves of plants. 



Dirphia tarquinia is remarkable on account of the great 

 difference of colour and appearance in the two sexes. In the 

 Australian genus Marane the abdomen is densely tufted at the 

 extremity with hair of a different colour. 



Fam. 8. Perophoridae. — The moths of the genus Perophora 

 have for long been an enigma to systematists, and have been 

 placed as abnormal members of I'sychidae or of Drepanidae, 

 but Packard now treats them as a distinct family. The larvae 

 display no signs of any social instincts, but, on the contrary, each 

 one forms a little dwelling for itself Some twenty species of 

 Perophora are now known ; they inhabit a large part of the 

 New AYorld, extending from Minnesota to Buenos Aires. The 

 habits of P. melsheimeri have been described by Harris, 

 Packard ' and Newman, and those of P. batesi by Newman.* The 

 larva is very peculiar ; there is a flexible pair of appendages on the 



' Bar and Laboulbene, Ann. Soc. ent. France, (v.) iii. 1873, p. 300. 

 " Op cit. (5), vii. 1877, p. 181 ; and Ent. Zeit. Stettin, xxxix. 1878, p. 221 ; and 

 xliv. 1883, p. 402. 



' Ann. New York Ac. viii. 1893, p. 48. 

 ■* Tr. ent. Soc. London, n.s. iii. 1854, p. 1. 



