Alliance 2. Schlupfwespen. Ovipositor very long, divided into three hairs; wings veined. Deposit their eggs in caterpillars; larvæ apodal—Ichneumonidæ, Evaniidæ.
Alliance 3. Pflanzenwespen. Ovipositor spiral or saw-shaped. Deposit their ova in plants; larvæ mostly furnished with feet, and frequently resembling caterpillars in form—Cynipidæ, Tenthredinidæ, and Uroceridæ.
Order 3. Holothurioid Flies—Lepidoptera.
3521. Four veined wings, covered with small dust-like scales; maxillæ have coalesced into a proboscis; larvæ with thoracic and abdominal legs.
The larvæ or Caterpillars remind us of the Nereides, especially the setaceous Aphrodites, such as the Holothuriæ, and further still, the Aselli and Scolopendræ. There are Caterpillars, which are scarcely to be distinguished from a Wood-louse. They subsist almost throughout upon leaves, and being exposed to the light are therefore variously coloured. They have maxillæ, and in the labium is the orifice of the salivary glands, from which they spin the threads used in weaving their cocoons, or social tents. Where they crawl they leave, like the Spiders, their threads beneath them.
The pupa state is perfect; the perfect insect generally creeps out of the chrysalis by a slit taking place down the back.
The abdomen is almost throughout covered with hair, which is indicative likewise of a strong mucous secretion.
They take in their fluid nourishment by suction, but the mechanism by which this is effected is not yet known, as from the jaws themselves forming the proboscis, there can be no suckers lodged within the latter that might act. It is probably effected by expansion of the abdomen taking place during respiration. Their deglutition would be therefore a respiratory act.
Besides their very non-artistic webs, no artistic instincts are to be observed in this order. The ova are just layed without more ado upon plants, and rarely upon other objects. The Butterflies are generally related to the plants, and especially to their corollæ, whose colours and forms they carry in themselves.
They divide according to their proximal orders into three families.