THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. l.'lS 



Some of our finest moths, both as regards size and beauty of form 

 and decoration, belong to this family, while it includes many small and 

 plainl}' colored insects, some of which have females which never possess 

 wings, and never move away from the cocoons in which they have passed 

 through the pupa state. 



These facts seem to show that the Bombycidse, as classified in 

 America, are rather a heterogeneous collection of insects, whose claims to 

 be included in one family are open to question. Packard, whose synopsis 

 is the best so far published, divides it into the following sub-families : some 

 of these, however, in Europe are given the family rank. 



LiTHOSiiX/E. All small moths, with the wings finely scaled, and gen 

 erally day-fliers. Lithosia, the typical genus, is but poorly represented in 

 Eastern America, there being only one or two species found here, while 

 fourteen are found in England alone. The larvae of this genus usually 

 feed on lichens. To this sub-family belong the Crocotas, also Euphanessa 

 inendica and Deiopeia bella. The caterpillars are generally a little hairy, 

 and most of the species spin thin silken cocoons. 



Arctiid.e. A large and well known group. The moths are of medium 

 size, and some of them beautifully colored, hence their common name of 

 Tiger Moths. Caterpillars generally very hairy, and make soft cocoons, 

 in which they interweave their hairs with silk. Their supply of the latter 

 is not large. The principal genera are Ai-ctia, SpiJosotna, Calliinorpha. 

 flyp/ianti'ia, &c. Some of the larvae are injurious to fruit trees. 



Dasvchir/K. The Liparidae of European authors. Packard restricts 

 this sub-family to Orgyia, and a few other genera. The caterpillars of 

 Orgyia are highly ornamented, and spin thin silken cocoons. The female 

 moths are wingless. 



CocHLiDi.'K. Cochliopodidaj of Europe. Small moths with curious 

 slug-like larvae, which spin cocoons almost globular in form, and of u 

 gluey appearance, the silk being more of a gum than a fibre. This sub- 

 family has some fourteen genera and twenty-eight species in Packard's 

 Synopsis, but only a few of them are found in Canada. 



PsvcHiDiE. A small group of diminutive moths, not found in the 

 Eastern States or Canada. They are closely related to the preceding 

 sub-family. 



Ptilodontes. a numerous sub-family, answering as a whole to the 

 Cuspidates of Newman's British Moths, although the larva? of some of our 



