116 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



superfamilies of the sfcirps is a very great one, and the reason thereof 

 is not difficult to understand : (1) Larva? are specialised for protec- 

 tive and defensive purposes in such a manner as to obscure the 

 primary structural characters. (2) The obtect pupa (which charac- 

 terises the specialised superfamilies, not only of this but also of each 

 of the other stirpes) is very similar throughout all the Lepidoptera, 

 the ancestral traces have largely disappeared and structural characters 

 are very uniform. (3) In the imago, the neuration is largely modified 

 by the peculiar structure and particular flying habits of each super- 

 family. In all stages, of course, secondary characters are at the 

 mercy of the environment. 



The relationship of the Micropterygids (Eriocephalids) to this 

 stirps is worked* out at length by Chapman. He bases his conclu- 

 sions on the pupal structure, the slug-like form and habit of external 

 feeding of the larva, the homology existing between the extra abdo- 

 minal prolegs and those of the Megalopygids, and between the latter 

 and the abdominal suckers of the Eucleids ; the parallelism between the 

 disposition and structure of the spines of the newly-hatched Eucleid 

 larva, Apoda avellana (testudo), with the similar arrangement in the 

 larva of the Micropterygids. With regard to this latter point, Chapman 

 says : The spines of the newly-hatched larva of Apoda avellana 

 (testudo) are parallel in disposition and structure with nothing known, 

 except the similar arrangements in Micropteryx (Eriocephala). 



The relationship of the Nepticulids with the Eucleids is also dealtf 

 with at length by Chapman. He finds the eggs very similar, an 

 agreement in the apodous condition of their larva? (although it must 

 not be forgotten that the former is a miner), and a similarity 

 amounting almost to identity in the pupa?, both superfamilies pre- 

 senting the incomplete pupa in its most extreme form, the segments 

 and appendages being quite free in both of them. This latter 

 factor appears to suggest that our treatment of Micropterygides, as a 

 superfamily of this stirps, is preferable to that of Packard, whose 

 definition of " Pupae-liberre " is evidently applicable to other pupae, 

 besides those of the Micropterygids. 



The generalised superfamilies of this stirps (excluding the Nepti- 

 culids) form Dyar's Anthrocerina, which he characterises! from the 

 larval characters as follows : 



Tubercles with single seta, or converted into warts, or absent ; i and ii, as well 

 as iv and v, approximate or consolidated. Includes the families, Pterophoridae, 

 Anthroceridae (and Pyromorphidae), Mcgalopygidae and Eucleidae. 

 I. — Body cylindrical, prolegs normal, setiE single or con- 

 verted into warts Pterophoridae. 



II. — Body more or less flattened ventrally. 



1. — Tubercles converted into warts; iv and v distinct. § 



a. — Prolegs normal ; warts reduced ... Aiithroceridae. 



b. — Two additional pairs of prolegs without hooks ; 



warts hairy ... ... ... ... ... Mcgalopygidae. 



2. — Tubercles converted into spinous processes or 

 absent ; iv and v aborted ; abdominal prolegs re- 

 placed by sticky ventral surface Eucleidae. 



* Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1894, pp, 335 et seq. 

 j- Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1893, pp. 115 et seq. 

 \ Additional notes on the Classification of Lepidopterous Larvae," Trans. New 

 York Acad. Sci., vol. xiv., 1895, p. 54. 



§ We would here observe that after the first skin iv and v are as much con- 

 solidated as i and ii in Anthrocera. 



