2 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. 



of natural objects, I do not hold to the quinarian arrangement being 

 universal ; neither do I conceive that the three groups, here alluded 

 to, are, intet' se, of corresponding value either with the two which 

 have been already discussed in my foregoing volume, and which 

 complete the quinary circle of Dr. Horsfield, or with the families of 

 Coleopterous insects, illustrated in the first part of the Annulosa 

 Javanica. Upon these considerations, therefore, I shall adhere to my 

 former plan of merely characterizing the group, which is apparently 

 connected by affinity with the one previously treated upon ; pre- 

 mising that the number of groups, in my opinion, appears to be 

 more than three, but less than eight : it is, however, not without 

 diffidence that I venture to hazard such a conjecture *. The group 

 in immediate contact with the Crepuscularia doubtless consists of 

 that portion of the Phalsense Bombyces of Linne which possess the 

 subjoined characters, and may be designated from the period of their 

 flight 



Lepidoptera Pomeridiana. 



Palpi usually two, short, generally cylindric : maxiJlw, or tongue, none, or very 

 short, somewhat membranaceous, and not convoluted : antennoe, at least in the 

 males, more or less ciliated or pectinated, sometimes serrated : head small : 

 thorax rarely crested: body usually stout, often woolly at the apex: wings 

 elongate, trigonate, mostly deflexed, undivided. Larva with sixteen feet, the 

 anal ones sometimes spurious. 



The typical insects of this subdivision are remarkable for the 

 great expansion of their wings, broadly pectinated antennse, com- 

 paratively small body, and the absence of a tongue : they are of the 

 highest utility to mankind ; their larvse constructing coccoons of 

 pure silk, the produce of which gives employment to millions of 

 human beings; but none of the more useful species are indigenous 

 to Britain : the less typical larvse mix pieces of leaves, dirt, saw- 



* Although I agree with Dr. Horsfield (whose recent valuable labours have, 

 in some measure, guided me in the following arrangement), that the metamor- 

 phoses afford important characters for the division of the larger groups, I 

 conceive that a system constructed upon that principle alone is as liable to 

 objection as if founded upon the consideration of any other single character; 

 nevertheless, that it does point out such groups generally, I think is too evident 

 to admit of a question, but there are several weighty reasons which render it 

 necessary for practical purposes to search for other characters, of which the 

 most prominent is the difficulty of ascertaining the larvae of each species: I 

 shall, therefore, consistently with the observation in Vol. I. p. 5, conunue to 

 employ the metamorphoses as a secondary character. 



