THE BOMBYCINA. lO/ 



a great size ; they are celebrated for their beauty and strangeness 

 of form, as well as for the simplicity of the decorations of the 

 species which are the most valuable to man. As moths the 

 Bombycina are usually stout and solid about the body without 

 being as robust as the sphinges. Their wings are usually large, 

 and the antennae, which are formed like the teeth and stem of a 

 comb (pectinated), are sometimes feathery in the males. The 

 trunk is rudimentary and useless, and the legs are short. The 

 majority of the moths live for love, and the lady bombycides 

 are so attractive that their pursuit and courtship are the sole 

 pleasures and delights of the males, which seek them out at 

 great distances and in a most remarkable manner. If a female 

 moth be carried into a house in a town far away from the fields 

 and hedges and be placed upon the window-panes, she will surely 

 attract followers and lovers in abundance. Towards the evening 

 the gentlemen begin to arrive ; they are in a great hurry, and 

 usually are very short sighted : so that they can see their cherished 

 object, what else is worthy of consideration ? Love laughs at 

 locks, bolts, and bars, but a pane is no joke, and many an ardent 

 bombyx bangs against this deceptive prison wall, maddened by 

 the sight of bombycina and hopelessly in love. An Australian 

 traveller once caught a pretty little moth and placed it in his 

 pocket inside a box. All the evening he was pestered with 

 moths that flew about him and settled upon him in every direction. 

 They followed him into his house, and would not be satisfied 

 without a sight of bombycina. 



The males which are thus able to find out the hidden females, 

 have feathery antennae, and perhaps there is some excessively 

 delicate organisation in them that gives the insect the peculiar 

 power of discovering the distant and desired object. Sight is of 

 no importance, neither is hearing, in this peculiar inquiry; and, 

 although it is difficult to understand, probably the odour of the 

 female insect attaches itself to anything it may touch, and thus 

 attracts the males. 



There are many tribes in this great group. 



The BombycidcB contain the most remarkable species, and 

 they all have almost invisible trunks and small palpi. A section 

 of them, with large wings marked with a spot upon their disc, 



