Insects. 5373 



Leach, he has added to it the genus Scoparia of Haworth, better known 

 to modern entomologists as the genus Eudorea of Curtis and Stephens. 

 The group thus formed he has divided into two divisions, constituting 

 the seventh and eighth divisions of his great class Heterocera, or 

 nocturnal Lepidoptera ; and these divisions he has named respectively 

 Deltoides, after Latreille, and Pyralites. The Deltoides he subdivides 

 into three families, the Platydidae, Gue??., Hypenidae, H.S., and the 

 Herminidae of Duponchel. Of these families the two last only are 

 represented in Great Britain. The Pyralites he divides into four 

 tribes : 1, the Squamosae, comprising a single family, the Adontidae ; 

 2, the Pulverulentae, comprising two families, the Pyralidae and Cle- 

 deobidae ; 3, the Luridae, consisting of eight families, five of which 

 are represented in Great Britain ; and 4, the Plicatae, consisting, like 

 the first tribe, of a single family, the Scoparidae, into which he has 

 absorbed the genus Eudorea of Curtis. 



The Deltoides, so called by reason of the triangular figure of the 

 insect when in repose, form the transition between the Noctuidae and 

 the true Pyrales. They approach the former very closely : " Les pre- 

 mieres Deltoides ont une extreme affinite avec les dernieres Noctu- 

 elles, et la ligne de demarcation est tres delicate." — Tom. viii. p. 2. 

 Herrich-SchaerTer has, in fact, united them to the Noctuidae. The 

 division appears to have been in great trouble, and had great diffi- 

 culty, even from ancient times, in finding a resting-place. Fabricius 

 united them with the Crambi. The Theresiens, we are told, separated 

 them from the Pyrales, under the name of " Pyrales with long palpi," 

 in which they were followed by Treitschke, Hiibner, Stephens and 

 Duponchel; while the founder of the group, Latreille himself, joined 

 two other genera with them. 



As restricted by Guenee, the Deltoides form a very natural group, 

 which " conduira des veritables Noctuelles aux Pyrales proprement 

 dites." , 



M. Guenee enters into a history of the classification of the second 

 (eighth) division, the Pyralites, from the days of Linneus. Scopoli, 

 Schrank, Hiibner, Latreille, Lamarck and Haworth had each a sepa- 

 rate arrangement of this group. Treitschke, it appears, was the first 

 to commence a definite classification of the Pyrales ; Stephens seems 

 to have confounded them with the Deltoides ; Duponchel] follows 

 Treitschke, but characterizes the group with more exactness, and de- 

 tails the genera with more order and form ; and, lastly, Herrich- 

 Schaeffer, to whom M. Guenee pays a high compliment, while he 

 severely criticises his arrangement, divides the Pyrales among the 



