138 GEOMETRID A. 
Family GEOMETRIDZ. 
A large family of moths, almost always of slender build, and of 
semidiurnal or crepuscular habits, dominant at the present day. 
Proboscis present or rarely absent. Legs and tarsi slender, 
elongate, and naked, or slightly clothed with hair. Fore wing with 
vein | @ forming a fork with 1 6, 1 ¢ absent ; vein 5 from or from 
above middle of the discocellulars, 7 rising from 8,9*. Hind wing 
with the frenulum usually present, but absent in a few genera ; 
Fig. 76.—Larva of Abraxas leucostola. +. 
(From Hmpsn. Ill. Het. ix, pl. 176, fig. 19.) 
vein la@ very short, apparently absent in some forms; vein 16 
running to anal angle; 1c absent; 8 with a well-developed pre- 
costal spur. 
Larve with the three anterior pairs of abdominal claspers totally 
aborted, and progressing by bringing the posterior somites close to 
the thoracic, looping the medial somites. In a few ancestral forms, 
of the subfamily @nochromine especially, there is a tendency to 
develop additional prolegs and to a more ordinary mode of pro- 
gression. 
Key to the Subfamilies. 
A. Hind wing with vein 5 obsolete, and with 
no production of the outer margin at the 
termination of the fold that represents it t. 1. Boarmine. 
B. Hind wing with vein 5 fully developed +. 
a. Hind wing with vein 5 rising much nearer 
GOK ah ss Ba eater cece Sees etc ae 6. Geometrine. 
6. Hind wing with vein 5 from or from below 
middle of discocellulars §. 
a’. Hind wing with vein 8 connected with 
7 by an oblique bar near base ...... 3. Orthostiaine. 
6’. Hind wing with vein 8 anastomosing 
with 7 at base, then rapidly diverging. 5. Acidaliune. 
c’. Hind wing with vein 8 free and approx- 
imated to 7 to near middle of cell .. 2. Gnochromine. 
d’. Hind wing with vein 8 anastomosing 
with 7 to beyond middle of cell, or 
connected with it by a bar beyond 
middle colicell eer oe ce wale sar 4. Larentiine. 
* Except in Cataclysia. 
| Except in Boarmia isometra. 
t Except in Microloba, S. 
§ Except in Sarcinodes and Alex. 
