]96 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



the spiritual rapping of the warm element, rise from 

 their graves clad in an orange and purple dress, and 

 ascend towards the sky as perfect moths. 



This Nocturnal Lepidoptera received its name after 

 Juno, the daughter of Saturn, also called Saturnia, 

 and her priestess, Io. 



The Saturnia Io is represented in Plate VI. fig. 28, 

 the male with four, and the female with two globular 

 black spots on the wings. The female is the larger, 

 and differs in color. 



The Silkworm-Moth. (Bombyx mori.) 



Of all the lepidopterous insects, this is the most cel- 

 ebrated, and the most useful to man, and consequent- 

 ly deserves as extended a notice as the limits of this' 

 work will allow. It is generally known, that most of 

 the caterpillars, at the period of their metamorphosis, 

 envelope themselves with a silky web, which forms 

 the inner part of the cocoon. But it is not, perhaps, 

 so well known how this silk is obtained from the ca- 

 terpillar, nor to what extent this most valuable of all 

 the products of insects could be cultivated in this 

 country. 



It is true, that mankind have lived, and' could live ? 

 without the use of silk, and the same might be said 

 of almost all our luxuries ; but whoever has witnessed 

 the steady progress of refinement in manners and cus- 



