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674. 

 STAUROPUS FAGI. 



The Lobster Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Bombycidfie. 



Type of the Genus, Bombyx Fagi Linn. 

 Stauropus Germ., Curt. — Cerura Schr. — Harpyia Och. — Terasion 

 Hub. — Bombyx Linn., Hi'ib., Haw., Goda. 

 Antennee inserted on each side of the crown, above the eyes, 

 rather short, setaceous, composed of numerous short joints, 

 clothed with scales above, bipectinated three fourths of their 

 length, in the male (1 ^), the apical portion ciliated internally ; 

 the rays slender and ciliated : simple in the female, bristly ex- 

 ternally, pubescent on the inside (1 ? , the centre and apex). 

 Maxillce rudimentary only, forming 2 minute lobes. 

 Labial palpi porrected obliquely, rather short, slender and hairy 

 (4), triarticulate, 2 basal joints long and stout, 3rd small and 

 suborbicular (a). 

 Head rather small, with 2 elevated rings of scales surrounding the base 

 of the antenna: eyes lateral and ovate (7). Thova.x moderately 

 stout, not crested. Abdomen linear in both sexes, with long thick 

 woolly hairs at the apex and curving over in the female ; 3 or 4 tufts 

 of scales down the back of the basal joints, larger iri the male. 

 Wings very much deflexed in repose ; superior narroio, elongate-ovate 

 with a few raised tufts on the disc ; inierior rather small, triangular- 

 ovate ; cilia equally long in all the wings. Legs short and very 

 woolly ; tibiae with the hairs spreading on the sides, 4 posterior ivith 

 a pair of short spurs at the apex : tarsi 5 -jointed. 

 Larvae naked, with 6 pectoral, 8 abdominal and 2 anal appendages, long 

 slender and horny ; 2wrf and '3rd pairs of pectoral legs elongated a7id 

 geniculated ; apical portion of the abdomen incrassated and generally 

 elevated in repose, as well as the head. Pupa inclosed in a close 

 silken web, often between leaves. 



Fagi Linn. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 794. 1. 



Male griseous-grey, more or less with an ochreous tint ; an- 

 tennae ferruginous ; 3 or 4 black tufts down the back of the ab- 

 domen : superior wings with a sinuated brown striga near the 

 base, ochreous on the inside, another crenated one a little be- 

 yond the middle with a suffused brown space between them and 

 2 or 3 indistinct grey tufts ; a line of black spots parallel to and 

 approaching the cilia, slightly raised and grey internally ; in- 

 ferior margin with a large dull red space ; inferior wings darker, 

 with a reddish tinge, the outer portion blackish, with 2 or 3 

 pale ochreous lunules united transversely at the margin, and a 

 space of the same colour near the base. Female more uniformly 

 grey, wanting the red in the upper wings, in which the black 

 spots are larger, with a raised lunule on the disc : inferior wings 

 not darker than the superior. 



Stauropus Fagi is a moth of rather grave colouring, yet 

 there is an agreeable harmony in the grey tints, which are en- 

 livened in the male by the reddish antennae and patches on the 

 upper wings, as well as by the tasselled black line on the body. 



