FAMILY ARCTIID/E 



"All diamonded with panes of quaint device, 

 Innumerable of stains, and splendid dyes, 

 As are the Tiger Moth's deep damask wings." 



Keats. 



"There is another sort of these caterpillers, who haue no certaine place 

 of abode, nor yet cannot tell where te find theyr foode, but, like vnto 

 superstitious Pilgrims, doo wander and stray hither and thither (and like 

 Mise), consume and eat vp that which is none of their owne ; and these 

 haue purchased a very apt name amongst vs Englishmen, to be called 

 Palmer-worms, by reason of their wandering and rogish life (for they 

 neuer stay in one place, but are euer wandering) , although by reason of 

 their roughnes and ruggednes some call them Beare-wormes. They can 

 by no means endure to be dyeted, and to feede vpon some certaine herbes 

 and flowers, but boldly and disorderly creepe ouer all, and tast of all 

 plants and trees indifferently, and liue as they list." — ^Topsell, History of 

 Serpents, p. 105 (1608). 



This is a large family including many genera and reckon- 

 ing, according to recent lists, over two thousand species. 

 The family is represented in our fauna by thirty-eight genera, 

 and at least one hundred and twenty species. 



The following characterization of the family is adapted from 

 Hampson, with special reference to the genera occurring within 

 our territory: 



Proboscis more or less aborted in the typical genera Arctia, 

 Diacrisia, and allies, fully developed in most neotropical 

 genera, and in Utetheisa and its allies; palpi slight and porrect, 

 or well developed and upturned; ocelli present; eyes rarely 

 hairy; antennae pectinate or ciliate; tibial spurs typically small, 

 but often well developed, the hind tibiae with the medial spurs 

 absent in a few genera and the fore tibiae in others with curved 

 apical claw, the mid and hind tibiae rarely spined. Wings 

 usually well developed. Fore wing with vein \a separate from 

 \b; 5 from near lower angle of cell or well below angle of 

 discocellulars; 6 from or from near upper angle; areole present 

 in many genera. Hind wing with vein \a present; \c absent; 



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