POECILOCAMPIDI. 463 



ment, and, on the other hand, a pupa and cocoon more nearly- 

 approximating to that of Malacosoma. The egg is not unlike that 

 of L. var. callunae, and the young larva, in some respects (from 

 memory), to Lachneis lanestris. Thus M. rubi gives a good hint as to 

 the connection of the Lasiocampa-Lachneis group with the Malacosomas, 

 and perhaps by way of cocoon with the Eutrichids, but if one once 

 accepted this line of argument, one implies an immense gap in the 

 relationship of the ' eggar ' cocoons of the Lasiocampids and Lachneids 

 (in sens, restr.) on the one hand and the Cochlidids on the other. 

 Denclrolimus pini (the only continental species besides priori that I 

 know in the early stages) certainly goes with the Eutrichid stem. 

 The eggs and egg-laying habits of Trichiura suggest a relationship 

 between it and Poecilocampa on the one hand and with Lachneis on the 

 other; the anal tuft of the females supports the latter suggestion, 

 whilst the similarity of the cocoons supports the former ; yet the 

 larva? of Poecilocaiiipa and Trichiura have no characters in common. 

 Poecilocaiiipa bears in the larval stage a certain similarity to Eutricha 

 quercifolia but this is probably only a case of parallel development. 

 Trichiura larva? have more in common with Malacosoma, but possibly 

 this impression is gained rather from a superficial than from any 

 structural similarity." 



Family : Lachneidae. 



We can readily separate our British species of the Lachneids into two 

 very distinct families, the Lachneidae proper, including the "eggars," 

 and the Eiitrichidae or "lappets," with their leaf-like appearance when 

 at rest and the marvellous development of the hindwings to aid this 

 similarity. Of the genera referable to the Lachneidae, one genus, 

 Poecilocaiiipa, stands somewhat isolated, for whilst it possesses the 

 typical basal wing-markings characteristic of Trichiura and Lachneis 

 and approaches them in other respects, yet its early stages show such 

 complete isolation that one cannot but separate it very distinctly 

 therefrom. As a matter of fact with one or two striking exceptions, 

 e.g., Malacosomidi and Lasiocampidi, the whole of our British Lachneid 

 moths are widely separated, and representative of isolated groups, not 

 only in Britain, but also in the Lachneid fauna of the world, Trichiura, 

 Lachneis and Macrothylacia being as it were each terminal of its 

 own tribe, and consisting merely of two or three very strongly defined 

 and not very variable species. In fact we doubt whether crataeyi is 

 not the sole representative of Trichiura, and rubi of Macrothylacia. On 

 the other hand Paclnjijastria (and Lasiocampa) represent a recent, if 

 not existent, evolutionary group, similar to Malacosoma, although 

 these groups are small compared with the much larger ones of closely 

 allied forms that have been occasionally developed from the main 

 generic stems into which the Eiitrichidae branch. Taken as a whole 

 one cannot but conclude that the Eutrichids are a dominant and 

 progressive group, the Lachneids a more conservative and stagnant 

 one. 



Subfam. : Poecilocampinae. 

 Tribe : Poecilocampidi. 



This tribe is, structurally, the most isolated of all the Lachneid (as 

 apart from the Eutrichid) moths, and in the larval stage appears to 

 show considerable affinity with the Eutrichids, and to be very 

 distinctly separated from Trichiura with which it is sometimes said to 



