106 
HEPIALID2E. 
The Hepialid.£ have a peculiar aspect, combined 
with minute peculiarities of structure, which ren- 
ders the family one of the most distinct of all the 
Heterocerous Lepidoptera. They form the first 
group of Latreille’s section Noctuma, which differs 
from that named Crepuscularia by having the an- 
tennas setaceous, or tapering gradually to the tip. 
“ They have the antennas very short and filiform, 
never feathered to the tip ; the spiral tongue is 
either obsolete or very short ; the palpi are also 
generally obsolete ; the abdomen is elongated, as 
are also the wings, which are deflexed in repose, the 
extremity of the former being attenuated into an 
ovipositor of considerable length, so as to he capable 
of being withdrawn, or introduced into the crevices 
of the bark of trees, &c. : the thorax is never crested ; 
the nerves of the wing are far more complicated 
than in any of the preceding groups. The caterpil- 
lars are fleshy naked grubs, with a few straggling 
hairs ; they are 16-footed (having 6 pectoral, 8 ven- 
tral, and 2 anal feet). They feed upon the wood of 
standing trees, or the roots of vegetables. When 
full grown, they construct a cocoon of the morsels 
of wood or vegetables upon which they have been 
feeding.” * 
* Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects, by 
J. O. Westwood, vol. ii. p. 3 76, 
