54 



THE yOUNG NATURALIST. 



and economy. On the continent of Europe, 

 twenty-tv.-Q families are recognised, beyond 

 Europe these insects are little known. The 

 British families are as follows ; — 



Family I. — Epigraphid.^;, Gn. (Exapati- 

 DJE, Stn.) The merabers of this family 

 generally fly in winter, cr early spring; 

 many of the females being vdthout or only 

 partly having wings. The larvae feed be- 

 tween united leaves. 



Family II. — Psychid.^;, Bruand. The 

 larvas of this family inhabit cases. Some 

 of the females are destitute of both wings 

 and proper legs, and never leave the case in 

 which the lar\'a was reared. 



Family III.— Tikeid.^, Stn. Most of the 

 insects of this family are on the wing during 

 the summer months. The larvae are very 

 varied in their habits — some living in cases, 

 others bore into fungi, some into rotten 

 wood, while others bore into the stems or 

 shoots of plants or mine leaves. Some of 

 the species are very abundant in houses, 

 destroying chair coverings, carpets, cloth, 

 fur, and feathers ; others are a great pest 

 in graineries. 



Family IV. — Hyponomeutid^, Stn. The 

 larvs of this family reside either singly or 

 gregariously in a vreb upon the food plant, 

 or bore into the young shoots. Those which 

 reside in svebs generally spin a tough silken 

 cocoon. Some of the species are very com- 

 mon on hawthorn and other trees. 



Family V. — Plutellid.e, Stn. The im- 

 agines of this family are on the wing at the 

 end of summer and beginning of autumn ; 

 most of them hybernate and re-appear at 

 spring. The larvae are very lively, feeding 

 on the leaves of various trees, and spin a 

 cocoon sometimes of a beautiful open net- 

 work structure, or like a boat with the keel 

 uppermost. 



Family VI. — Gelechid^, Stn. Most of 

 the perfect insects in this family appear on 

 the wing during the summer, but some 



hybernate and re-appear again in the spring. 

 The larva mainly feed in rolled leaves, 

 leaves or petals of flowers drawn together, 

 or in seed heads. Some bore into the stems 

 of plants, while some mine between the 

 cuticles of leaves, make silken galleries upon 

 most on old walls, or bore into rotten wood. 

 One species [E. fenestrella) is very destructive 

 to cloth, &c., in houses. 



Family VII. — GLVPHiPXERYGiDiE, Stn, 

 Many of the insects comprising this family 

 are gaily coloured and love to sport in the 

 hot sunshine. The larvas may be found in 

 the seed heads of plants, or mining between 

 ! the enticles of leaves. In the geneva. Anti- 

 spela and Tinagma the larvae are entirely 

 without feet : first mining leaves and then 

 cutting out a flat oval case. 



Family VIII. — ARGYRESTHiDi?E, Stn. The 

 larvas of this family feed either in the leaves 

 or young shoots or the fruits of plants. 

 They have sixteen feet. The family is not 

 of large extent, only 28 species occurring in 

 Britain. 



Family IX. — Gracilariid^, Stn. The 

 perfect insects of this family rest with the 

 head elevated. The larvae have fourteen 

 legs, living mostly in the rolled leaves of 

 plants ; some live in a kind of cone, and 

 others in the leaves. 



Family X. — Coleophorid^, Stn. The 

 larvae of this family live in a case which 

 they carry about, affixing the case to a leaf 

 or other substance, and mining into its 

 interior, the leaf feeding species forming 

 conspicuous blotches. The cases are very 

 varied in shape and colour, and serve greatly 

 i to distinguish the species. 

 I Family XI. — Elachistid^, Stn. The 

 i perfect insects appear generally from May 

 to August, and the larvas in the spring. 

 The latter feed in or upon leaves, in berries, 

 or in stems. One species (A . arateUa ) makes 

 podlike galls on Polygonum aviculare. The 

 larvae of the extensive genus Elachista mine 

 the leaves of grasses or allied plants. 



