136 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
of the higher Microlepidoptera, but other characters of the Nolas seem 
to ally them with the Bombycides. I have mentioned the leg j)late 
(Journ N. Y. ent. soc. vol. 3, p. 22), and there is also the absence of 
a wart formed by iii on the thorax which is present in the Micro¬ 
lepidoptera, and the separation of a wart from the edge of the cervi¬ 
cal shield (see Psyche, vol. 7, p. 253). 
Moreover the Anthrocerid Microlepidoptera, the only ones with 
true warts, all tend to the flattened Eucleid form with a modification 
and multiplication of the legs, whereas Nola resembles a little 
Arctian, and has lost the anterior pair of abdominal legs. This 
tendency to a loss of part of the legs is frequent within the Bomby¬ 
cides, but is unknown in the Microlepidoptera. The actual arrange¬ 
ment of the mature warts can cause no confusion, while we may theo¬ 
retically regard their development as independent of the wart forma¬ 
tion in the Arctians and Lithosians, analogous to, but not homologous 
with, the structure of the highest Microlepidoptera. This will throw 
the Nolidae back to an origin from the Arctian stem coincident with 
or shortly subsequent to its separation from the ancestors of the 
Noctuidae. 1 
Family Lithosiidae 
Contrary to my preconceived opinion this proves to be a well 
marked family. In my material there is a constant correlation 
between the absence of ocelli in the moth and the posterior position 
of the upper wart on the thorax of the larva. I am not acquainted 
with the mature larva of any American Lithosian, since Eudule 
belongs to the Geometridae according to Hulst and Comstock, and 
Sarrothripus belongs to the Noctuidae according to Hampson. 2 I 
have therefore, had to depend on European material. 
In my first paper on the classification of larvae (Ann. N. Y. acad. 
sci., vol. 8, p. 226), I was unfortunate in my examples of Lithosians. 
None of those there cited really belong to the family. 
Oeonistis quadra, Linn. 
Warts partly degenerate, low flattened and few haired, but still 
1 The fact is Nola exhibits both Bombycid and Tineid characters. We must regard it 
therefore either as a Bombycid, which has secondarily developed certain Tineid charac¬ 
ters, or as a Tineid which has developed several Bombycid characters. In choosing the 
former view, I am guided by what seems at present to have been the most probable 
origin; but I would distinctly state that the second view is not precluded. If it be 
adopted, the origin of Nola is thrown further back to a point at which the Bombycides 
and Tineides separated from a common stem. 
2 The characters of the larvae confirm both of these references. 
