LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. 35 
Genus Puatana, Latreille. 
The antenne are setaceous, short, simple, pecti- 
nated or plumose in both sexes, or in the males 
only; tongue often small; lower palpi almost 
concealing the upper, nearly cylindrical or conical, 
short, and covered with small scales ; wings large, 
extended horizontally, or slightly sloped, and 
the posterior border in many species angular or 
dentated. 
This genus comprehends nearly that division of the Linnean 
genus Phalena termed Geometra. Almost all the caterpillars 
are smooth, with a slender elongated body, and on the backs of 
many are eminences or warts resembling the knots or buds of a 
small branch. They live solitarily, and feed on vegetables. 
Some eat only the Jeaves of certain trees, while others feed in- 
discriminately on many. They walk by approximating the feet of 
both extremities, and raising the intermediate portion of their 
body into a ring or arch. Their progression is accomplished by 
measured projections of their anterior feet, the posterior ones 
being brought close up to the others at every step, the body 
rising at same time into an arch. ‘This mode of walking has 
given rise to the application of the term Geometrae, or measurers 
of land, by which the genus has been characterised. These ca- 
terpillars ave farther remarkable for the manner in which many 
of them attach themselves to the branches of trees, and which 
proves them to be possessed of muscular strength in a great de- 
gree. Some fix their posterior feet on a small branch with the 
body placed vertically, and remain immovable in this position 
for hours, and others appear in attitudes which require the 
exertion of still greater muscular power. When the leaf is 
touched upon which one of these caterpillars is placed, it drops 
off, but does not fall to the ground, having always a silken thread 
