188 
REVIEWS. 
cannot pretend to do more than notice a very few of the many interesting 
points brought forward by the author, nor shall we be able to do justice 
even to these. Limited as we are in time, much that should have been 
noticed must be passed over in silence. 
In the present work, Mr. Stainton describes 89 indigenous genera under 
13 families; but as new discoveries may, any day, add to, at least, the 
former, the number of those at present ascertained is of secondary im¬ 
portance. A remark on their geographical distribution has more interest. 
Beyond the limits of Europe little is known ; but of the European species, 
comparatively few are unknown in this country; the distribution of the 
Tineina thus contrasting strikingly with that of the larger group of Lepi- 
doptera, particularly the various families of the Rhopalocera—of which 
division we possess a very meagre list of species. From this fact, sup¬ 
posing that we may account for our deficiency in Rhopalocera, by the 
hypothesis that they were not completely distributed over Europe before 
the isolation of England from that continent, Mr. Stainton ingeniously and 
reasonably infers the original precedence, in point of time, of the Tineina— 
furnishing another proof, were any such required, of the mutual bearing on 
each other of very dissimilar sciences. A point of contact is here observed 
between entomology and geology; and it may be, that in future ages 
geologists may discover fossil Tineina in strata prior to any which contain 
fossil Rhopalocera. It is not by any means impossible. Fossil Lepidoptera 
are to be found, though, as is but natural from their extreme delicacy, they 
are great rarities. 
The distinctive characters of the Tineina are thus given:— 
Antennas setaceas, raro pectinatae vel ciliatas, Corpore longiores, Ocelli 
adsunt rarius, Corpus gracile, Alas elongates, longe vel longissime ciliatas, 
praesertim posteriores, hae raro elongatotrapezoidales, plerumque sensim 
attenuatae, sine pictura, Larva 16 aut 14 pedibus instructa. 
Of these characters the most distinctive is said to be the length of the 
ciliation of the wings ; and Mr. Stainton observes that, 11 there appears to 
be a gradual progression from the Diurnal Lepidoptera, where the cilia are 
shortest, to the Pterophorina and Alucitina.” And although the larvas 
have generally sixteen, and sometimes fourteen feet, yet their development 
greatly varies—as, for instance, the larvas of the genus Tischeria have such 
undeveloped legs that they cannot be seen without a microscope, while 
those of the genus Nepticula cannot be contented with less than eighteen 
(the number is probably unique), all well developed; but, as if to make up 
for the unusual number, they are all of peculiar structure. This is the 
anthor’s account of them. The six anterior legs } so universally present in 
