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24. 

 GASTROPACHA QUERCIFOLIA. 



Lappet Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Bombycidse Lat. 



Type of the Genus, Bombyx quercifolia Linn. 



Gastropacha Ochs., Germ., Curt. — Bombyx Linn., Fab., Lat., Haw. 



Antennce nearly alike in both sexes, very short, recurved, strongly bi- 

 pectinated, basal joint stout, with a long tuft of hairs on the inside, 

 the rays very close and ciliated (1 female antenna). 

 Maxillae forming 2 short, broad, compressed lobes, remotely attached 

 behind the pharynx (6 f). 



Labial palpi projecting nearly horizontally in a beak, contiguous at 

 the base (6 e, the sockets) : clothed vi^ith short hairs (4) : triarticu- 

 late, basal joint short and stout, 2nd longish stout, a little curved j 

 3rd longer than the 1st, elliptic -clavate (4 «). 

 Head with a tuft of scales projecting in front : eyes large (7, the profile). 

 Thorax not crested. Abdomen stout, sublinear in the male, the apex 

 rounded, very stout, with the apex conical in the female. Wings deflexed 

 in repose, the inferior projecting beyond the costa of the superior which 

 have 2 small lobes at the inferior angle : cilia short and indented. Legs 

 short and stout : tibiae, anterior short with a curved compressed spine on 

 the inside, with a long brush of hairs at the base (8 a) ; hinder with a pair 

 of short spurs at the apex : claws very short and stout : pulvilli small. 

 Larvae hairy with 6 pectoral, 8 abdominal and 2 anal feet, with a fleshy ap- 

 pendage on each side of every segment and a caudal tubercle. Pupa covered 

 with a fine whitish powder, inclosed in an elongated cocoon, formed of 

 threads and hairs. 



Quercifolia Linn. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 811. 1, 



Chestnut colour, with a lilac bloom. Rib of antennce, palpi, and tarsi, 

 black, changing to violaceous. Superior wings dark-brown along the 

 costa, with three bluish-black, oblique, dentated lines, more or less ob- 

 scure, the central one of which is visible beneath. Inferior wings as 

 pale at their base as the abdomen, with an obscure, broad, transverse 

 fascia, darkest towards the edges : the female is much larger than the 

 male, and has an obscure dark spot towards the centre of the upper 

 wings. 



In the Author s and other Cabinets. 



In the seventh Plate of British Entomolof^y Dendrolimus Pint was 

 figured, and referred in the 1st edition to Odonestis, from its charac- 

 ters agreeing better with that type than with Gastropacha quercifolia ; 

 and I think it will be admitted that I have not erred in so doino- 

 when the generic descriptions are carelully examined : the recurved 



455 



