MICRO-PSYCHINA. 129 



in their well -developed palpi, and their more elongated and non-trans- 

 parent wings, but also in their food which consists of lichens, and in 

 the character of their cases, which are smooth, instead of being covered 

 with pieces of leaves or twigs as in the Psychids. The cases of 

 the Solenobiids vary, he says, " according to the species ; some are 

 like hoods, others more elongated, some cylindrical, others trigonal, 

 and yet others tetragonal." 



We see by this that Guenee had rightly placed Bacotia sepium ( = 

 tabulella) with Litffia lapidella, and separated them from the Talepo- 

 riids and Solenobiids which make up his first section. He further 

 noticed that the larva? were lichen-feeders, that the cases were flat or 

 ovoid, dry, and covered with particles of sand or wood, and not with 

 straws, &c. Zeller referred the Micro- Psychids to the Tineids, and 

 remarks (Linn. Ent., vii., pp. 325 et se<?.)that it is difficult to find char- 

 acters that will separate them from all others. He was the first author 

 to recognise the alliance of Narycia, Diplodoma, amd Lyjnisa (which have 

 winged females) with Solcnobia and Taloporia ; in other words, he first 

 formulated the boundaries of what have since been known as the 

 Micro-Psychids. He, too, like Guenee, allied them with Adda and 

 Nemotois, and we have no doubt that these authors are so far correct 

 that the Psychids, Adelids, and Tineids originated from a common 

 stem and are closely related, as such relationships go, but that 

 whilst the Psychids have retained many characters common to the 

 Adelids, they have specialised in the larval, pupal, and imaginal states 

 in a Bombycid direction. Zeller states that all these (Psychids, 

 Adelids, Tineids) live in cases, some transportable, others fixed, those 

 with the latter having to manufacture their food into dwelling-places, 

 and he argues that, different as the two methods appear, the difference 

 is really not important, and hence he designates the whole family as 

 "case-bearers," whether they carry their cases or not. Yet he emphasises 

 the gap between the Tineids and Coleophorids, and remarks that whilst 

 the Tineid pupa partly emerges from its cocoon before the emergence of 

 the imago, that of the Coleophorids remains within the cocoon. In 

 our opinion, the difference is a fundamental one, as offering a distinct 

 point of cleavage between the Psychids, the Adelids, and the Tineids. 

 Having thus carried over the Taleporiids (and Solenobiids) to the 

 Tineids, Zeller avers that a boundary-line between the latter and the 

 Psychids does exist, and that the Psychids must remain among the 

 Bombycids. He does not think that any special weight should be laid 

 on the circumstance that the Psychids cover their cases with coarse 

 material, " for betulina uses tolerably delicate leaves, which makes it 

 probable that, with further discovery, the difference will be still more 

 inappreciable in this direction." He considers that it is of more 

 importance that whilst "in all Tineids the female pupa emerges from the 

 cocoon as well as the male, in the Psychids, the female pupa stays 

 in the case." This really remains one of the fundamental differences 

 lift wren the Macro- and Micro-Psychids, although it is by no means 

 absolute. Zeller continues that, in the imagines, the Psychids have 

 rounded, wide, Bombyciform wings, whilst those of the Tineids 

 have elongated wings and a well-developed apical angle ; but Speyer's 

 sepium, he says, abolishes this difference, for, in spite of its elongated 

 wings, the J pupa-case and $ antenna: show it to be a true Psychid, 

 \ el Zeller failed to discover that the male pupa was essentially Taleporiid 



