LIBRARY

440 COLLEGE ENTOMOLOGY
moniliform, and often pectinate in the males. Ocelli absent. or rudimentary;
concealed beneath the hair. Mouth parts vestigial; the adults apparently feed
little or not at all. Proboscis represented only by the basal segment. Mandibles
and maxillre vestigial. Labial palpi small and hairy. Thorax well developed,
hairy. Legs weak and lacking spurs; the hind pair in the males may have a large
tuft of hair. Wings long and rather narrow; hind pair much smaller; anal veins
reduced; jugum slender; frenulum absent; venation primitive, CU2 only partly
developed in the fore pair. Abdomen large; female genital organs specialized
and complicated.
The females of certain known species scatter or spray the somewhat disklike
eggs over the host plants in flight. The caterpillars are cylindrical, often
quite large; somewhat wrinkled; yellowish, whitish, or dusky; with hairs arising
from small dark body tubercles; six ocellanre in two rows of three on each side
of the polished elongated or nearly globular head; three pairs of true legs and
five pairs of prolegs. They are apparently all plant borers and feed in the
roots, imnks, limbs, twigs, and stems of annual and perennial grasses, plants,
shrubs, and trees. Some of them are of considerable economic importance. The
pupre are cylindrical; with dorsal and ventral spines; abdominal segments III to
VII free in the male and III to VI free in the female; spiracles on abdominal
segment I invisible. Pupation occurs within the silk-lined burrows.
This family constitutes a primitive group of moths placed close to the
MICROPTERYGIDlE. It embraces 23 genera and 200 species which are
widely distributed but attain their greatest development in the Southern
Hemisphere in Australasia and South America and especially in the former
region where occur many remarkable species. The largest species are the
Australian Charagia nobilis Turner, C. mirabilis Rothschild, and the bent wing
moth, Leto stacyi (Scott). The latter Tillyard says is the finest known species
in the family. These have a wing expanse of 175 mm. and are arrayed in
brilliant colors. The larvre of Charagia burrow into the twigs of native shrubs
and trees and fruit trees while the larvre of Leto tunnel into the roots of large
eucalyptus trees. The larvre of the latter are up to 153 mm. long, and the burrows
are plugged with a silken wad which the pupa pushes out before emergence.
Larvre of the European Hepialus humuli (Linn.) and lupulinus (Linn.) infest
the roots of a large number of annual and perennial plants. H. gracilis Grote of
North America and H. heeala (Linn.) of Europe attack the roots of ferns.
Members of ihe genera Pielus Walker and Triclena Meyrick infest the roots of
trees. The caterpillars of Oncopera Walker are serious pests feeding on the
toots of grasses in pastures, greens, and lawns in Australia.
II. Suborder FRENATJE Comstock 1892
(HETERONEURA Tillyard 1918)
KEY TO SUPERFAMILIES
(Adapted from Tillyard, Comstock, Brues and Melander, and others.)
1. Vein M and two main branches complete and conspicuously formed
within the cell; CUi present in both pairs of wings; areole present in