Insects, 



8387 



gradations, often very difficult of definition between nearly - allied 

 species, would permit me. 



It would be quite superfluous for me to write a detailed history of 

 the genus Lithosia, since every lepidopterist is acquainted with these 

 long-bodied and depressed moths, with their hind wings folded like 

 those of Crambus, — a character which misled Latreille himself, who, 

 in his arrangement, placed them next after his Tineites, their ap- 

 proach to which family is purely superficial. There is no collector, 

 even though a novice, who has not seen them flying in the twilight, 

 both in the woods and around the lights, which attract them in great 

 numbers ; and, observing them falling suddenly into his net, and at 

 first supposing he had struck at a large Geometer, has many a time 

 concluded he had missed his aim, until he has examined very care- 

 fully the folds of his net, in which the insect has secreted itself. 



It is also known that all their larvae feed on lichens ; but this simi- 

 larity of food seems not to exercise much influence on the habits of 

 the perfect insect. Thus we find the larvae of L. complana and L. 

 plumbeola in the full sunshine, upon the dry leaves which have accu- 

 mulated at the foot of oak-trees, and in the warmest and most shel- 

 tered situations, in company with those of L. mesomella and L. rosea; 

 while that of L. griseola prefers moist and shady situations. The 

 larvae of L. rubricollis and L. unita — so extremely alike, notwithstand- 

 ing the difference of the perfect insects — are found on the branches 

 of oak trees; while those of L. palleola and L. arideola sit during 

 the day on rocks, and climb, morning and evening, on blades of 

 grass; and that of L. caniola spends its life on the tiles of roofs. It 

 is difficult, as will be seen, to reconcile habits so different with food 

 so uniform. 



Exotic species of Lithosia have an extreme resemblance to our 

 own, of which they exhibit almost all the characters ; so that they 

 might readily be mistaken for indigenous species. I might have de- 

 scribed several new species, but, not possessing good series of speci- 

 mens, I have preferred leaving the ground entirely unexamined, thus 

 rendering its exploration more easy to any entomologist who may 

 hereafter address himself to the task. 



I have been compelled to change several names, although well 

 established in our French collections. I trust I shall be pardoned 

 this act of justice, when it is seen that the prior names I have 

 restored are often more appropriate than those which had been sub- 

 stituted : this good result is not always obtained from a strict 

 adherence to the otherwise indisputable law of priority. 



