On the Antennae and Trophi of Lepidopterous Larvae. 19 



concolorella, Eriphia concolorella, and other species, .Laverna 

 (Perimede erransella, Laverna gleditschiaeella, etc.) into the true 

 Laverna, so that the close family connection of Elachista with 

 Laverna can hardly be questioned. But by its larval trophi, Laverna 

 is much nearer to Gelechia than it is to Bedellia or Tischeria, which 

 Mr. Stainton places in Elachistadce. From the abundance of species 

 and individuals of Elachista in Europe, that genus is probably the 

 most characteristic of the family to which it belongs, and properly 

 give to it the family name. In this country, however, it would, I 

 think, more properly be called the Lavernadae. 



Whatever value, if an}'', attaches to these differences in larval trophi, 

 it is at least curious that of the multitude of larvae examined all should 

 fall so readily into one or other of these groups. These differences, at 

 least those as to the number of spines on the labrum, do not indicate 

 families, such as Papilonidae, Tineidae, etc., but larger groups. On 

 any theory of the descent of the Lepidoptera from a common ancestral 

 form, and if the larvae represent a period of development of the 

 order earlier than the pupa and imago, then we must have in their trophi 

 a nearer approach to that of the original form, and the great uniformity 

 which now prevails among the larvae, as to their trophi, indicates how 

 little variation has taken place in these organs in the long lapse of 

 ages since Lepidoptera first made their appearance on the earth. 

 What, too. are we to think of the " first form" of trophi, destitute, as 

 it is, of spinneret, palpi and maxillae? Does it represent an earlier 

 form of trophi than the ordinary form in the history of the order, or 

 is it a degraded form? To my mind it is a degraded form — degraded 

 from such trophi as it has after the first form is thrown off, and the 

 labrum is armed with ten spines. Then looking to Cemiostoma, 

 Tischeria, Antispila, etc., which never have the "first form," how are we 

 to account for the curious modification of the maxillae in the first two, 

 and of the labrum in all of this group? Are they, too, degradations; or do 

 the}'' represent an earlier condition of the "ordinary form?" 



The Lepidoptera have by some been supposed to have a genetic con- 

 nection with the Phryganiidm. I have observed the trophi of but few 

 ot the larvae of the latter, but have not found anything in them to in- 

 dicate an} 7 close connection with Lepidoptera. Indeed, the larval 

 trophi of the Lepidoptera seem to have as close a resemblance to 

 those of some Coleoptera as to those of anj- other order, though suffi- 

 cient 1 ^ distinct from them, even without taking into consideration the 

 spinneret. 



