AETIIEOPODA. 127 



form cocoons of silk, or silk mixed with other substances, such as 

 bits of wood or their own hairs. The spinneret is a modification 

 of the larval lip. The silk-glands are two long lateral sacs. 

 Caterpillars, are almost invariably vegetable feeders, rarely of 

 flowers, and are often very destructive ; a few live in the water. 

 No species is known to be parasitic in any stage of its existence. 

 Gatteria mellionella and Achr&a grisella, although found in bee- 

 hives, feed only on the wax. 



The affinities of the Lepidoptera are not very decided ; some of 

 the Neuropterous Trichoptera have an outside resemblance, and 

 so have species of Hemiptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera. The 

 species are very numerous, but the colours, on which so many 

 so-called species depend, are very variable. The nomenclature, 

 too, in the attempt to restore obsolete (and in some cases mere 

 catalogue) names, is not uniform. Indeed in this respect the 

 generic names are so unstable that many amateurs are content to 

 omit them altogether. Among the nioths the names given to 

 species are often simply absurd, as has been pointed out by Stau- 

 dinger in such words as " Schmidtiiformis" or " Millieridactylus" \ 

 and the silly custom of requiring a uniform termination to the 

 specific names of certain groups, as "-ella," "-aria," "-ata" "-ana,'' 

 "-alis" &c., can now only mislead, as they are no longer strictly 

 confined to such groups, to which, when Phalcena included almost 

 all known moths, they were supposed to afford a kind of clue. 



A curious set of English names are given by collectors to butter- 

 flies and moths, especially the latter ; but the following names in 

 common use may be cited as species of this order : The white 

 cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassier} ; the peacock ( Vanessa Io} ; the 

 brimstone ( Gonopteryx rhamni) ; the painted lady (Pyrameis 

 cardui] [a cosmopolitan species] ; Atlas moth (Attacus Atlas) ; 

 the silkworm moth (BomJ)yx mori} ; the death's-head (Acherontia 

 atropos) ; the humming-bird moth (Macroglossa stellatarum) ; the 

 goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda} ; the puss-moth (Cerura vinula); 

 the magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata) ; the dart-moth (Noct'ita 

 segetum, very injurious in the caterpillar state to turnip-crops) ; 

 the clothes-moths are various species of Tineidse. The larva of 

 Geometriclje are well known under the name of " loopers ;" those 

 of the Tineidae mostly feed on the parenchyma of leaves and are 

 known as " leaf-miners." 



HETEROCERA (Moths). Antennae pectinate, setaceous, plumose 

 or fusiform, rarely clavate. Frequently nocturnal. 



In the males the antenme are often more developed than in 

 the females. The first four families are known as the " Micro- 

 lepidoptera". Sesiidse are of uncertain affinity. 



