01 EXTRA-EUROPEAN T ItIC IIOPTE EA. 



115 



ovate, truncate, and dilated, slightly sealy, armed with one stout, 

 claw-shaped spur ; first joint of tarsi enormously dilated, twice the 

 length of the tibia, sulcate internally, the lower surface densely fur- 

 nished with waxy-looking scales ; succeeding tarsal joints short and 

 small, gradually diminishing in length and thickness; intermediate 

 and posterior legs slender, and of the ordinary form, each tibia 

 furnished with an apical and subapical pair of long and equal 

 spurs. Abdomen short and somewhat stout; inferior appendices 

 short, curved. 



Anterior wings oval, rather densely clothed with short hairs, the fringes 

 somewhat long ; subcosta and radius nearly straight, parallel ; dis- 

 coidal cell narrow, closed by a straight veinlet ; cellula thyridii very 

 long, extending nearly to the base, and reaching to the middle of the 

 discoidal cell, closed by a straight veinlet ; a veinlet unites the lower 

 fork of the ramus discoidalis with the ramus thyrifer, placed level 

 with that closing the discoidal cell ; an oblique veinlet beneath the 

 middle of the cellula thyridii unites this with the cubitus anticus; 

 seven apical cellules, the first extending along one-third' of the upper 

 edge of the discoidal cell, third shorter than the first, but longer than 

 the second, fourth equal to the second, fifth longer than the first, 

 extending to a level with the middle of the discoidal cell. Posterior 

 wings moderately long, gradually dilated to beyond the middle, apex 

 parabolic, costal margin with a short inturned fringe, anal portion 

 with very long fringes; subcosta and radius united for some dis- 

 tance, afterwards separating and diverging ; discoidal cell small, sub- 

 triangular, closed by a straight veinlet ; a second veinlet unites the 

 lower edge of the discoidal cell to the ramus subdiscoidalis ; lower 

 branch of the ramus discoidalis simple ; ramus subdiscoidalis simply 

 and longly furcate. 



A genus abundantly distinct by the enormous labial palpi, 

 and very abnormal structure of the anterior legs, the aborted 

 tibia and enormous first tarsal joint in these legs being very re- 

 markable ; the mass of scales on the surface of this strange tarsal 

 joint has, at first sight, the appearance of a waxy secretion, but 

 resolves itself into waxy-looking scales under a high power. The 

 genus is evidently a near ally of Mormonia ; and nature would 

 seem to have selected this group as one in which she can best 

 display her wealth of forms. In this group is also exhibited a 

 more or less constant tendency to substitute a scale-like clothing 

 for hairs in the male sex. In the typical species of Mormonia 

 (M. hirta) this clothing pervades almost the entire insect ; in 

 Nosopus it is concentrated, so to speak, upon the labial palpi 

 and the abnormal tarsal joint. It is possible, nay, almost certain, 



