Lepidoptera 



245 



Epicopiidse. — The EpicopUda are a remarkable family of large 

 moths comprising only a single genus {Eplcopia). The first maxillaE 

 are well-developed, the palps of the second maxilla very small, the 

 feelers bipectinate in both sexes. The frenulum is vestigial. Each 

 cell of the wings is traversed by a nervure (forked in the forewing). 

 In the hindwing the sub-costal is quite free from the radial nervure, 

 and there is only a single anal. The larv£ have skin glands which 

 secrete a white waxy substance 

 forming a dense wool - like 

 clothing. The ample wings 

 are dark except for a few 

 white spots on the hind wings, 

 and the insects are closely like 

 some Papilionidae which in- 

 habit the districts where they 

 are found — northern India, 

 China, and Japan. 



Bombycidae. — The Bom- 

 hycidtE are a family of moths 

 which agree with the Uraniid^ 

 in the absence of a frenulum, 

 and differ from them in the 

 vestigial condition of the first 

 maxillse. The palps of the 

 second maxillse also are greatly 

 reduced. The feelers are 

 bipectinate in both sexes. The 

 forewings are usually pointed 

 at the tip and the lower radial 

 nervures bend downwards ; the 

 hindwings have two or three 

 anal nervures. The cater- 

 pillars, with ten prolegs, are 

 elongate, not hairy but 

 furnished with dorsal humps 

 on some of the segments, often 

 with a spine on the hindmost. 

 The pupa is enclosed in a dense 

 cocoon of fine silk. The best 

 known larva of this family — 

 that of Bombyx mori — is the 

 "common silkworm " (figs. 66, 

 136). The BombycidjE are 

 fairly numerous in India, China, Japan, and the Indo-Malayan districts, 

 but scarce in Africa and tropical America. The only European (and 

 British) species which can be referred to this family is Endromis -versicolor; 

 this must be considered an aberrant form since the second median 

 nervure in the forewing is nearer to the third than to the first. 



Fig. 



136. — a. Silkworm Moth {Bombyx 

 »tori, Linn.); h. cocoon. Natural 

 size. From Riley, Bull, q, Div. Ent. 

 U.S. Dept. Agr. 



