COCHLIDIDES (EUCLEIDES). 367 



surface is covered. The clavola, also, is closely covered, except on the 

 ventral aspect, with broader scales, which, by their loose and irregular 

 manner of insertion, indicate a very low degree of specialisation. In 

 Limacodes y-inversa even the ventral surface of the shaft bears numerous 

 scales. In the pectinate forms the pectinations are heavily clothed, 

 even to their distal ends, where the scales from three sides unite to 

 form a thick tuft extending beyond the end. The pectinations are 

 ventral, and at or near the distal edge of the segments. Euclea querceti 

 is peculiar in having the pectinations of the cephalic side of the 

 antennas flattened, and nearly as broad as the length of the segments 

 of which they form a part. In the Eucleids also there is an unexpected 

 development of cones, which are long and slender, and are often many- 

 pointed at the apex, as in the Megalopygids, some species having 

 several to a segment. In the pectinate forms, the cones have migrated 

 to the apices of the pectinations, where they are protected by the thick 

 apical tuft already mentioned. Pits are very rare, seldom more than 

 one or two to a segment, and then only on a few segments. The 

 Eucleid antenna differs markedly from those of the Cossids and 

 Psychids, but is very similar to that of the Megalopygids in the 

 surface covering, in the character of the cones, and, where they occur, 

 in the pits also. Chapman informs us that the Nepticulid antenna is 

 entirely covered with scales. Our Cochlidids also, Cochlidion avellana 

 and Heterogenea asella, have the antennas similarly covered with scales, 

 and the same character is noticeable in Empretia stimulea. 



This superfamily has a wide distribution, but it belongs essentially 

 to tropical and sub-tropical districts : The Philippines, Papua, 

 Australia (including Tasmania), East Indies, China, Ceylon, India, 

 Madagascar, South Africa, the Congo district, Sierra Leone, Central 

 America, tropical South America, and Mexico produce many species. 

 Species are found more sparingly in the Nearctic region (excluding 

 western North America), the Palsearctic region (including Europe. 

 Amurland, Corea, Japan and Askold). There are only two European 

 species, both of which are found in Britain, although other species are 

 found in the eastern portion of the Palsearctic area. A complete list 

 of the species, and their geographical distribution, has been published 

 by Kirby (Synonymic Cat. of Lepidoptera Heterocera, L, pp. 525-558). 

 Of the two species that inhabit Britain, Heterogenea cruciata (asella) 

 is most abundant in the New Forest, and is generally obtained by 

 searching for the larvae in the autumn. It is, however, most uncer- 

 tain in its appearance. The males of Cochlidion avellana (Apoda 

 limacodes) are often to be seen in the woods of our south and south- 

 eastern counties in July, careering wildly over the tree-tops, and 

 difficult to capture except with a long net. The female (and in dull 

 weather the male) is frequently beaten from the bushes, when it 

 drops like a lump of brownish clay to the ground, where it usually 

 remains for a time motionless. The larva is to be beaten from oak- 

 trees in September. 



Family : cochlidids. 



This family is here restricted to those species of this superfamily, 



which have the warts, spines, and setae, found in the larvae of the other 



families of this group, entirely absent in the last skin, although the 



primitive setae appear to be retained in the first stage and peculiar 



