cochlidides (eucleides). 361 



The Cochlidids, known more generally as Cochliopodids and Lima- 

 codids in Europe, and Eucleids in America, are, in some respects, 

 among the most generalised of Lepidoptera. They are more closely 

 allied to the Megalopygids than to any other superfamily, and Packard 

 considers that they have also affinities with the Saturniids. The eggs 

 and pupa? of the Eucleids (Cochlidids) and Megalopygids are certainly 

 very similar, the pupae being of a very generalised type. Their larva?, 

 however, are different, and the absence of abdominal prolegs in the 

 former separates them very sharply from their congeners. Packard 

 calls the Megalopygid larva of Lcu/oa crispata " a primitive Cochliopodid 

 with larval abdominal legs." The same author's suggestion of a 

 Saturniid alliance, seems to have been obtained chiefly from the larva? 

 of Adoneta and Empretia, whose large tubercles, bearing three radiating 

 seta? or bristles, remind one much of those of the Saturniids. Packard 

 considers that the oldest and least modified forms are the tuberculated 

 larva? of Euclea, Adoneta and Empretia, these being "more like the 

 larva? of other Bombyces." On the other hand, he says, the nearly 

 smooth slug-worms, without hairs or tubercles when fully grown (such 

 as Apoda or Heterogenea), appear to be the most aberrant, having lost 

 their prolegs by disuse, the thoracic ones also being greatly reduced in 

 size, while their sluggish disposition, their slow gliding mode of 

 progression, and their peculiar coloration, have produced the most 

 strange and bizarre type of lepidopterous larva in existence. 



Chapman insists very strongly on the relationship existing between 

 this superfamily and the Nepticulids, which do not, superficially, bear 

 the slightest resemblance to each other. Apart from the matter of size, 

 the larva? of the Cochlidids (Limacodids) are external feeders, those of the 

 latter are miners. The neuration of the former is generalised, that of 

 the latter extremely specialised, owing to the minute size of the moths. 

 Chapman, however, asserts that the pupa? are structurally identical. 

 The delicate pupal skin, the free abdominal segments, the easily 

 separable appendages, the arrangement of the dorsal spines in several 

 rows of small equal points towards the dorsal margin of each segment, 

 the strongly developed maxillary palpus, the mode of emergence from 

 the cocoon, are all points of similarity that exist in the pupa?. Certain 

 larval and imaginal characters also show considerable resemblance in 

 the two groups — the modification of the prolegs, the method of larval 

 progression, etc., will at once occur to all lepidopterists. 



Speyer was the first to point out an alliance between the Cochlidids 

 (Eucleids) and the Anthrocerids. He based this conclusion mainly 

 on their generalised structure, the delicate pupal integument, and 

 the partially loose sheath of the pupa. He considered that these 

 groups stood nearest to the Tineids with complete maxillary palpi, 

 which he believed formed the oldest branch of the lepidopterous 

 stem. Chapman also considers that they are somewhat closely allied, 

 and have been evolved from a common stem. 



Packard has recently practically adopted Chapman's views as to 

 the inter-relationship existing between the Micropterygids, Nepticulids, 

 Megalopygids, Cochlidids (Eucleids), etc. After noting that Chapman 

 removes the Cochlidids from the Bombyces proper after a study 

 of their larval and pupal characters, he states that this superfamily 

 and the Megalopygids should be placed near the Tineoids, from which 

 they have, undoubtedly, descended, but he adds: " That the line of 



