Insects. 



8085 



frame of one of which broke in his hand and disclosed the insects. The wood in 

 which this insect, in both instances, was found, was birch. — J. J. Reading ; Plymouth, 

 May 17, 1862. 



Acentropus niveus : does it belong to the Lepidoptera or the Phryganeina ? * — The 

 ordinal position of Acentropus was brought before the Society by Mr. Brown, in a 

 paper read on the 1 Ith of September, 1857, and the question was then supposed to be 

 settled; yet whenever a naturalist of distinguished ability and repute publishes an 

 error it is astonishing with what pertinacity it sticks. Narycia elegans was removed 

 from the Phryganeina, because, fortunately, it was found to correspond with an 

 insect, under another name, placed among the Lepidoptera. Acentropus still 

 remains to find a position generally acknowledged. Westwood,Dr. Hagen and Zeller 

 may be cited among the principal authorities for including Acentropus with the Lepi- 

 doptera. Guenee and Doubleday, we are informed (Preface to 'Zoologist,' 1861), 

 "absolutely and unhesitatingly reject it from that class." In the 'Intelligencer,' last 

 year, there was some discussion, and a proposition was made to place it in the tribe 

 Phryganeina near to the Sericostomidoe. Why it should be rejected from the Lepi- 

 doptera, or why it should belong to the Phryganeina, is what we want to know. One 

 argument has been adduced, which is that "the extremity of the abdomen is adorned 

 with quite trichopteriform anal appendages." This is an assertion which may be met 

 by another, namely, that the anal appeudages are similar to those of the Lepidoptera, 

 more particularly to some of the Tineina. I think they will compare more favourably 

 with Cheimabacche, or with Tinea, or even with Depressaria, than with any of the 

 Phryganeina. Believing that the anal appendages of the Lepidoptera have not received 

 the attention which they deserve, it may perhaps be excusable here to notice them 

 more than would otherwise be expedient. In size, form and accompaniments they are 

 almost as diversified as in the Phryganeina ; and this is the case merely between in 

 widely separated genera, but betweeu closely allied species they sometimes exhibit a very 

 remarkable difference. As an instance, compare the appendages of Triphaena pronuba 

 with those of T. orbona, and it is very probable that where doubts exist as to specific 

 distinction a reference to these characters may solve them. In the Phryganeina the 

 anal appendages are exposed, naked or but slightly clothed with hair, never so as to 

 conceal them ; in the Lepidoptera they are usually quite concealed by a clothing of 

 scales and the caudal tuft. It frequently happens that in the death-struggle they are 

 expanded and remain so; this must have been noticed by every possessor of a 

 tolerably good collection, in the genera Mamestra and Hadena especially. When this 

 is the case a fair view is obtained internally, but for careful examination they should 

 be denuded. The anal appendages of Acentropus are clothed with scales as in the 

 Lepidoptera. It may be that they are rather sparingly so, or that they are easily 

 denuded, for I have not had a bred specimen to examine ; but the fact is evident. In 

 Acentropus, as was shown by Westwood more than twenty years ago, the wings are 

 clothed with scales, and not only the wings, but the head and palpi, body and legs; 

 the thorax is furnished with a pair of tippets, and the hind wings with a bristle. 

 These three peculiarities, though not possessed by all the Lepidoptera, are charac- 

 teristic of the order, and none of them are found in any of the Phryganeina. But 

 this is not all: according to Mr. Brown, the pupa is enclosed in a silken cocoon in the 

 axils of the leaves of Potamogeton pectinatus, and with regard to the pupa itself he 

 speaks very positively. " I have proved Acentropus niveus to be a lepidopterous 



* Read before the Northern Entomological Society. 



