fiOMBYCID^. 35 



attention thereto. 1 have also seen the insect three or fonr times 

 in April, at Coombe-wood, flying, in the afternoon : it is, however, 

 uncommon, but very widely dispersed. " Taken near Plymouth." 

 — Dr. Leach. " Near Ipswich, in April last." — Ilcv. W. Kirhij. 

 " On Ashdown-forest, Sussex, rather abundantly in the larva state, 

 about ten years since." — Mr. Stone. 



Family III.— BOMBYCIDiE. 



Palpi usually very small, and nearly concealed, mostly triarticulate : 7naxiJl(v 

 generally wanting, or extremely short, not spiral. Antennae rather short, 

 bipectinated, in the males especially, or serrated in the females ; the bipec- 

 tinations rarely diverging, but mostly approximating towards each other an- 

 teriorly: thoi^ax not crested; body stout, generally tufted at the apex, par- 

 ticularly in some females : wings horizontal, or deflexed, frequently reversed. 

 Males smaller than the females. Larva naked, with a verrucose ring on each 

 segment, bearing several diverging whirls of hair; or pilose, with distinct 

 fascicles of hair on the sides : pupa with the segments simple, rarely subter- 

 ranean, enclosed in a folliculus, which is frequently of a firm and rigid texture. 



The prevailing characteristic of the Bombycidse is their want of 

 maxillse, or having mere rudiments thereof, and consequently use- 

 less to the animal : the palpi are wanting, or generally remarkably 

 small in comparison to the magnitude of the insects, wdiich are 

 amonffst the largest of the Linnean Phalsenai. Their habits are 

 highly interesting, and one of the most curious is the assembling of 

 the males of most of the species by a virgin female. The males, in 

 general, fly swiftly in the day-time, fronii about noon to four or five 

 ©""clock in the day, and again in the evening ; but the females are 

 usually very sluggish and inactive. The larvae are frequently gre- 

 garious, and are invariably furnished with sixteen legs, and in the 

 conterminous genera alone have one or more dorsal tubercular 

 points or elevations ; they are usually pilose, and in some of the 

 genera their hair has the property of creating much irritation and 

 pain when applied to the skin : the pupa is rarely subterranean, but 

 is enclosed in a folliculus, which is very commonly of a firm con- 

 sistence. From the habits of the Bombycidpe being so greatly 

 diversified, it becomes necessary to divide them into several genera, 

 although, from the paucity of characters in the order Lepidoptera, 

 the distinctions between them appear but trifling; nevertheless, if 

 distinguishing names, whether capriciously termed genera or sub- 

 genera, are to be given to animals having dissimilar habits and 



J>2 



