Edward Meyrick

“ A better character is furnished by the presence or absence of vein 1c in the hind wings, which is found to be usually constant not only in families, but in main groups, and a vein once lost can never be regained ”

“ The Eupterotidæ, mostly large insects which, both in the imago and larva states, have considerable relationship to the Lasiocampidæ, are probably the least specialized; as they possess a frenulum, they cannot justly be derived from the Lasiocampidæ themselves, but have probably a common ancestor not far removed. ”

“ Characters of colour and general form are bad only because they are particularly liable to be modified by changes of environment. Now some structural characters are quite as liable, and are therefore equally bad. ”

“ The Pyralidina are commonly distinguishable from the other groups already mentioned by the structure of vein 8 of the hind wings, which is brought down so as to closely approach or anastomose with vein 7 beyond the cell. Another character almost constant throughout the group is the stalking of veins 8 and 9 of the fore wings; it is quite constant in most of the families, but in the mainly tropical family Thyrididæ these veins are more usually separate ”

“ Thus in the Hymenoptera (bees, &c.) there is a row of hooks and eyes; in the Trichoptera (caddis-flies) there is a membranous process (jugum) from the dorsum of the fore wings near the base, which projects beneath the edge of the hind wings, whilst the following part of the dorsum extends above it; again in the Lepidoptera there is normally a stout bristle or group of bristles (frenulum) rising from the edge of the hind wings near the base, and passing under a catch on the under side of the fore wings. ”

“ In the Agaristidæ, Caradrinidæ, and Plusiadæ (these two latter forming the old group Noctuæ, whose name is untenable, belonging by right of priority to an owl) , this is modified so that 8 anastomoses with the cell-margin very shortly near base, the Agaristidæ being characterized by the apically swollen or sometimes clubbed antennae, the Caradrinidæ by the obsolescence of vein 8 in the hind wings, which in the Plusiadæ is well-developed. In the Arctiadæ a further modification takes place, 8 anastomosing with the cell-margin for a considerable distance from base. ”

“ Lastly, the Caradrinina contain seven families, of which the Ocneriadæ (Liparidæ of some) is doubtless the most ancestral, making in fact a close approximation in many points to the Psychidcs, and showing a tendency to exhibit similar apterous females. In this, and the allied family Hypsidæ, vein 8 of the hind wings is connected by a bar with the middle of the upper margin of the cell. ”

“ The wood-feeding habit of the larva is very characteristic of that group of the Tineidæ from which it is derived.
Having now established in the Tineina a base of origin, with which the connection of the general body of Lepidoptera has to be traced, we may consider what characters can be held to indicate nearness to or remoteness from this base. The best indication for this purpose will be furnished by the presence or loss of some ancestral character which when once lost is incapable of redevelopment. Prof. ”

“ Similarly knobbed antennae occurring in the higher Caradrinina (Agaristidæ) have been thought to indicate relationship to the Papilionina; but there the frenulum is always strong and persistent, and the required simple type of neuration is never found. Hence we must suppose that the Thyrididæ are the true starting-point of the group. ”