388 LEPIDOPTERA 



belong to the Tiiieid series of moths. The species we figure (Fig. 

 193) has a character otherwise peculiar to Sesiidae in the wings 

 being inserted on the thorax remote from the head — a feature we 

 do not find in the Tineidae proper ; while on the other hand it 

 has the long wing-fringes, and the shape of the wings that are 

 characteristic of Tineidae. It is worth mentioning that though 

 these Insects are of excessive rarity and very peculiar, there exists 

 in the Solomon islands ^ a species distinct from, though at first 

 sight excessively similar to, the S. African one we figure. 



Fam. 15. S5mtomidae. — This family has usually been asso- 

 ciated with the Zygaenidae. It includes a large number of 

 moths having, as a rule, in external appearance little to distin- 

 guish them from the family named, ilany of them are of gaudy 

 colours, and probably of diurnal, but somewhat sedentary, habits. 

 The wings are less ample than usual, the hind pair frequently 

 very small, so that the Insects have somewhat the proportions of 

 Hymenoptera. In some cases the resemblance is made more 

 remarkable by the fact that the wings are transparent and bare 

 of scales, or have scales only at the margins, so as to be like the 

 wings of Hymenoptera. ISTot less remarkable is the fact that 

 these Insects use the body itself for the purposes of adornment 

 or display ; thus adopting a system prevalent in the Hymenop- 

 tera, rather than that of their own Order, where the rule is that 

 the wings are more ornamented than the body. In many 

 cases the shape of the body is so very different from the normal 

 that the disposition of the organs of life in the interior of the 

 body must be materially affected. In some genera, such as Andre- 

 nimorpha, the form, colour and attitude of the body and some 

 of the limbs are plainly similar to Hymenoptera. These Insects 

 have a highly-developed frenulum, retinaculum, and proboscis ; 

 bipectinate antennae in the male, a complex organ at the base 

 of the abdomen on each side, and are in fact highly-developed 

 forms, except perhaps as regards the structures in connexion 

 with flight. 



Unfortunately little or nothing is known as to the habits 

 and metamorphoses of these extraordinary creatures, but it is no 

 doubt to them Seitz referred in saying, " How far one may be 

 deceived by appearances of a mimetic nature can only be com- 

 prehended by visiting the tropics ; in this part of the world 



' "VValsingham, 0?;. cit., 1889. c. p. 21. 



