134 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



The imagines are peculiar in many ways — the antenna, mouth- 

 parts, the anal tuft of ? , apterous condition of some females, presence 

 of ocelli in some genera — all of which are fully dealt with elsewhere. 

 As to their habits, the males are chiefly day flyers, loving the hot sun. 

 Xarycia and Dvplocloma appear in late June and July (as also do the 

 Lufhids, which, in this as in many other characters, show stronger 

 affinities with the Macro-Psychids). Taleporia, too, emerges in early 

 summer (June), hut Bankesia follows Sol'enobia in appearing in early 

 spring — March and April being the usual months of their appearance. 

 That most of the species are much more widely distributed in the 

 British Islands than our data at present suggest is certain, and our 

 ignorance of the genus Salenobia is, in Britain, so profound that we 

 have scarcely a clue as to the actual species inhabiting our islands. 

 Bankesia conspurcatella is essentially a Mediterranean species, extend- 

 ing, however, into France and Belgium, and becoming localised on 

 our south coast. Salenobia inconspicuella and Taleporia tubulosa 

 are probably with Diplodoma herminata the most widely distributed 

 British species. "Why T. politella has not yet been recorded for 

 Britain is altogether inexplicable, considering its range on the 

 Continent. 



As we have already pointed out, the characters presented by the 

 early stages that separate the Micro-Psychids from the Macro-Psychids 

 are those afforded by the eggs, the position of the dorsal larval tubercles, 

 the position of the dorsal abdominal spines of the pupa, the absence of 

 the intersegmental pupal spines, the modification of the pupal setae on 

 abdominal segments 7-10, the presence of the dorso-anal spikes, the 

 absence of the ventro-anal spikes. We have already pointed out that 

 these characters fail in part in the Luffiids. Snellen remarks that the 

 general affinities of the genera Epiclinopteryx, Fumea, Taleporia, and 

 Salenobia show that they all belong to the Psychids, and can only be 

 separated therefrom by artificial characters ; they form a link, he con- 

 siders, which connects the Micro-Psychids Avith Diplodoma, Xarycia 

 (Xysm'atodoma), Tineola, and Tinea. 



It appears to be quite impossible to group the Micro-Psychids satis- 

 factorily. In many ways, as we have already pointed out, Xarycia 

 shows a stronger alliance with Salenobia, and Diplodoma with Taleporia. 

 Bankesia has ocelli like the two latter, yet it has a distinct Solenobiid 

 facies, although Salenobia is without the ocelli. Still, all of them 

 show very marked differences (as is always the case in the more 

 ancestral branches of a superf amily) , and we see no logical way of 

 dealing with them but as separate families, giving the details relating 

 to each in its own proper place. 



Family : naryciid^:. 



As the Diplodomids show a distinct alliance with the Taleporiids 

 so this family shows an equally marked tendency to approach the 

 Solenobiids. Like the latter the imago has no ocelli, the larval case 

 of Xarycia monilifera is hardly to be distinguished from that cf 

 Salenobia inconspicuella, and the larvae, too, with their generalised 

 tubercles, i and ii placed in true trapezoidal fashion, present many 

 striking resemblances. The females, of the Naryciids are winged, and 

 hence the Solenobiids must have undergone considerable differentiation 

 and specialisation (in the imaginal state particularly) since they left 



