TO Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi.iv. 
Finally a word concerning the origin of the Dioptidae to trace the 
ancestry a step further. In this Journal (Vol. iii, p. 3 ° — 3 2 )’ 
Packard argues for the derivation from a common ancestor of the 
11 Geometrids, Dioptids, Hypsids and Syntomids — Euchromiidre. 
It is true he makes this ancestor to be the Lithosiidae, why I am unable 
to imagine. We have no evidence of the extensive degeneration which 
is implied in deriving the simple Geometrids and Hypsids (a low 
Noctuidous type) from the highly specialized Lithosiidae, with their 
four-branched cubitus and modified wart formation in the larvae. To 
my mind, the present group nearest to the ancestral form of the Noc- 
tuina (which includes the four families mentioned by Dr. Packard) is 
the Notodontidae.* We see in them a combination of the generalized 
position of vien 5 with the single haired tubercle of the larva. The two 
families next nearest this stem are the Dioptidae on one side and the 
Geometridae on the other. Therefore I agree with Dr. Packard’s main 
proposition, and we may derive the Dioptidae from low on the main 
stem of the Noctuina, near the ancestors of the Geometrids, as illustrated 
in the genealogical tree shown on the accompanying plate (Plate III, 
fig- 9 )- j 
COMPOSIA FIDELISSIMA: ITS LIFE HISTORY. 
1866— Herrich-Schaffer, Cor. Blatt. Reg. XX, 131. 
1867— Grote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil. VI, 303. 
1890— Dyar, Ent. News, I, 105. 
1891— Dyar, Ent. News, II, 50. 
1892— Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. I, 190. 
1S94—Neunioegen & Dyar, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc. II, 26. 
Composia olympia Butler. 
1871—Butler, Ann. Nat. Hist. (4) VIII, 290. 
1884—Druce, Biol. Cent. Am. pi. n, fig. 1. 
1890—French, Ent. News, I, 153, fig. 
Eggs. _Large, spherical, except for the flattened base; deep 
ocher yellow, slightly shining. Diameter 1.3 mm.; height .9 mm. 
The reticulations are small, rounded hexagonal, visible under a half 
inch objective. (Plate III, fig. 1). Twenty-four eggs were found on 
the back of a single leaf, irregularly distributed and rather remote from 
each other. 
Stage I. _Head rounded, shining, concolorous with the body; 
width .5 mm. Body dull orange, segments 5-6, 9-11 reddish purple ; 
* In some characters the Dioptidae themselves are more generalized than the 
Notodontidae, e. g., the presence of traces of a third anal vein in hind wings as shown by 
Prof. Comstock; but on the whole they must rank a little higher. 
