14 



Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



descended from such common ancestor it must have been a very remote 

 one. Pronuba has the labrum armed with twelve spines, and they are 

 small, whilst the ten of Prodoxus are the largest that I have found 

 among Lepidoptera. It is curious that the Prodoxus larva, pent up 

 in its little narrow gallery in the hard wood of the Yucca, should have 

 its labrum thus armed, since the spines are evident^ in its wa}', and are 

 nearly always found broken. It will not surprise me if the Prodoxus 

 larvae shall prove to have tropin of the first form in its first stage 

 since the labrum has only ten spines. 



Gracillaria, Ornix, Coriscium, Lithocolletis, Leucanthiza, and 

 Phyllocnistis are the oxv\y genera that as yet are known to have tro- 

 pin of the first form in their } r oung stages, and ten spines upon the 

 labrum in the ordinary form. But there are other genera, the mouth 

 parts of which have not been examined in their younger stages, but 

 which, from their resemblance to the foregoing genera in their later 

 larval stages, and as pupae and imago, no doubt belong to the same 

 group. Thus M armara salictella has probably been observed by no one 

 but Dr. Clemens, }*et his account of it leaves no doubt that it is closely 

 allied to Lithocolletis ornatella, and Leucanthiza amphicarpeozfoliella. 

 Mr. Stainton places the genera Lyonetia, Opostega, Phyllocnistis, Ce- 

 miostoma and Bucculatrix in his family Ly one tidce. Of these we have 

 already considered Phyllocnistis and Opostega, and my genus Acan- 

 thocnemis, as are evidently so nearly allied to it in the imago that it is 

 probable they are at least equally so in the larval state, though the lar- 

 vae are not /it present known. The presence of eye-caps in the imago, 

 and of a tuft on the vertex^ circumstances considered of some import- 

 ance apparently by Mr. Stainton, do not appear to me to have much 

 value in classification ; even to the presence or absence of both pairs of 

 palpi, too much importance has I think been generally attached. Thus in 

 both Opostega and Phyllocnistis the maxillary palpi are obsolete, and 

 the labial palpi are larger in the latter than in the former; their close 

 connection I think is evident at a glance. Opostega has the head 

 roughened, and Phyllocnistis has it smooth; while Acanthocnemis has 

 the maxillar}^ palpi well developed; yet I do not think that any one who 

 inspects it can doubt its near relation to Phyllocnistis. I have not ex- 

 amined the larval tropin of Lyonetia, but from the characters of the lar- 

 vae, pupae and imago I think it is closely related to Gracillaria, and will 

 be found to have tropin of the first form in the first larval stage, and ten 

 spines on the labrum in the later stages. Cemiostoma I have already men- 



