FAMILY BOMBYCIDAE 
" And thou, the insect of an hour, 
O’er Time to triumph wouldst pretend; 
With nerves of grass wouldst brave the power 
Beneath which pyramids must bend! ” 
Carl Gustaf Af Leopold. 
The Bombycidce were originally confined to the Asiatic conti¬ 
nent, and more particularly to the southeastern portions of that 
great land mass. The family is quite small and includes only a 
few genera. Of these the genus Bombyx is the only one 
which is well known. The family has been characterized as 
follows by Sir George F. Hampson, in “The Moths of India,” 
Vol. I, p„ 31: 
“Proboscis absent, palpi rather small or absent; antennae 
bipectinated in both sexes; legs hairy, without spurs. Frenulum 
absent; vein 5 of both wings from or from above the middle of 
the discocellulars; veins 7, 8, and 9 of the fore wing generally 
more or less bent downward; vein 1 a forming or not forming 
a fork with 1 b) 1 c absent or present. Hind wing with two or 
three internal veins; vein 8 arising from the base of 7, or free 
from the base with a bar between them; the inner margin irreg¬ 
ular and in part turned over. 
Larva elongate and not hairy; dorsal humps on some of 
the somites, or a horn on the terminal somite, or paired dorsal 
spines. 
Cocoon formed of fine silk of great commercial value.” 
Genus BOMBYX Linnaeus 
(1) Bombyx mori Linnaeus. 
The silk-worm of commerce is not known to exist in a feral 
or wild state in the regions where it is now most, commonly 
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