THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 253.] SATUEDAY, AUGUST 3, 1861. [Price Id. 
FLAT-BODIES. 
The v^olurae of the ‘Natural History 
of the Tineiiia’ which is just pub- 
lished treats of the Depressariw, or 
Flat-hodies. The exotic relations of 
the Flat-bodies are of such large size 
that one looks at them with amaze- 
ment, and seems perplexed at Tineina 
so gigantic! Of course the question 
will arise, what constitutes them Ti- 
neina, or small moths ? 
That the European Depressarice be- 
long to the Tineina few would be 
disposed to dispute, though if the palpi 
were broken off they could not be 
easily separated from the Tortricina; 
however, most recent writers on the 
subject are now disposed to consider 
the Tortricina only as a family of the 
Tineina, and not as a group distinct, 
like the Geometrina from the Noc- 
tuina, so that, considered from this 
point of view, the similarity of the 
Flat-bodies and other cognate genera 
to the Tortricina is the less sur- 
prising. 
Those who are personally acquainted 
with the larvae of the genus Depres- 
saria are aware of their extreme simi- 
larity to many of the common leaf- 
rolling Tortrix larvae: they resemble 
them especially in their agility and 
rapidity of movement; and here it is 
remarkable that although the Tortrix 
or Lozotania is only distinguished for 
agility in its early life, — that is, in its 
larva state, the perfect insect being 
comparatively sluggish, — the Depres- 
saria retains its activity in the per- 
fect state, and though its movements 
have not the electric velocity of a 
Gelechia, they are sufficiently rapid to 
indicate a proximity of relationship to 
that genus. 
One contrast between Tortrix and 
Depressaria is rather interesting ; we 
believe all larvae of Tortrix and Lozo- 
tania emerge from the egg in autumn, 
pass the winter as young larvae, feed 
up in early spring, and appear in the 
perfect state in June and July; a 
Depressaria larva, on the contrary, 
almost always comes out of the egg 
in spring or summer, feeds up in the 
summer months, and produces the per- 
fect insect in July, August and Sep- 
tember, the imago generally hyber- 
naling, and being often seen on the 
T 
