414 BRITISH LEPIDOPTEKA. 



divide this subfamily into two tribes, the Psychidi and the Oreopsychidi 

 (rect. Phalacropterygidi), the former to contain Psyche, Schrank (Mega- 

 lophanes, Heyl., Gymna, Ebr., Stcnophanes, Heyl.), the latter to consist 

 of Oreopsyche, Speyer (Hyalina, Ebr., Sciopitera, Ebr.), as used by 

 Heylaerts in the Ann. Soc. Ent. Bely., xxv., pp. 70-71. These corres- 

 pond respectively with our divisions Empedopsychinae and Oreopjsychinae 

 (ante, pp. 274-275), the former readily to be distinguished from the 

 latter by the reduction in the number of the nervures of the hind- 

 wings, &c. Most of these genera (and subgenera) as used by 

 Heylaerts appear to be heterogeneous and heterotypical, so that his 

 Oreopsyche and Psyche become respectively synonymous with Oreo- 

 psychidi and Psychidi as defined by Chapman. 



Heylaerts' diagnosis of Oreopsyche (—Oreopsychidi) reads as follows : 

 Antennes bipectinees jusqu 'au sommet, a barbules tres longues 



formant panache. Les ailes anterieures n'ont que neuf a 



dix nervures marginales et les posterieures n'en ont que 



cinq. Les tibias anterieurs n'ont pas une epine tibiale. . Oreopsyche, Speyer. 

 a. Les ailes sont plus ou moins transparentes . . . . Hyalina, Rbr. 



/3. Les ailes sont opaques . . . . . . . . . . Scioptera, Rbr. 



Speyer notes (Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1865, p. 250) that his Oreopsyche 

 corresponds with Herrich-Schaffer's division v (Sys. Bearb., ii., p. 21), 

 and is by him essentially characterised in the diagnosis : " Alae posteriores 

 cellula media bipartita, costis 5, anterioribus 9-10." In addition, 

 however, to this simplicity in the neuration, it is also characterised 

 by the unusually long antennal pectinations, which, in the middle of 

 the shaft, are half as long as the Avhole antenna, thin, threadlike, and 

 but little shortened towards the apex. The body is clothed with long 

 hairs, and the especially long hairs of the head form a frontal tuft 

 directed forwards and downwards. The wings are entirely devoid of 

 scales, clothed with fine appressed hairs, the wing-membrane either as 

 clear as glass (muscella, anyustella, &c), or more or less dark-coloured — 

 smoky-grey to deep-black — (plumistrella, tenella, &c). The fringes are 

 relatively long (compared with other Psychids), longest round the 

 inner angle, and consist of fine hairs not very closely placed. The 

 bifurcation of the dorsal nervure of the forewings (characteristic of the 

 genus Psyche, H.-Sch.) occurs not far from its commencement, at one- 

 third of the length, or still earlier. Oreopsyche, then, is characterised 

 by the following : 



(1) The lesser number of nervules arising out of the median cell. 



(2) Seven or eight on forewings, with four (or exceptionally five) on the hind- 

 wings. 



(3) By the simply divided median cell of the hindwings. 



(4) By the length of the antennal pectinations. 



But within the group there are considerable differences in respect of 

 habitus, build of body in relation to wings, and in the form of the 

 wings. On these grounds the group is divided into three sections : 



(1) Body robust ; forewings triangular ; hindwings much shorter, rounded ; 

 seven separate nervules from median cell of forewing — albida, Esp. 



(2) Body robust ; abdomen very shaggy ; forewings elongate with very rounded 

 angles ; eight nervures from median cell (in muscella that from front of cell some- 

 times imperfect), all separate or six and seven from one point or stalk — tabanclla, 

 Brd., angustella, H.-S. (atra, Esp.), muscella, W. V., plumifera, O., mediterranea, 

 Led., hirsutella, W.V. (schijfermilleri, Staud.). The more slender body of schifer- 

 milleri makes it a transitional form to the following group. 



(3) Body slender ; forewings with eight nervures from median cell, six and 

 seven on a common stalk — plumistrella, Hb., tenella, Spey. 



