210 AGTIAS. By Dr. K. Jordan. 



At tlie base of the forewmg above there is a short, more or less curved, spur, which has erroneously 

 been called ,. cocoon-cutter." As Ch.\pmax has proved, it is a support for the moth in emerging from the co- 

 coon. The latter is .softened by a liquid given off by the moth from the mouth so as to facilitate emerging. The 

 spur is best developsd in Australian species, and very much reduced in the Saturnids which do not spin a cocoon. 



The larvae of Saturnids are adapted in the most different directions, and do not present a single character 

 which apphes to all the species. The tA^jical forms bear 6 rows of thorny warts wlxich are. however, 

 even in these forms often partly or entirely absent m the last stages. The dorsal warts of the thorax and segment 

 1 1 frequently remain when the others are obsolescent, and are sometimes developed to large defensive horns 

 (Eades, Citheronia, Arsenura, etc.). Poisonous hairs are widely distributed in tliis family, especially among 

 the smaller American forms. In many species the two dorsal warts of segment 1 1 are united to form one 

 high wart or a process resembling the horn of the Sphingidae. Accordmg to whether these two warts are joined 

 or separated, the Saturnids have been divided into two groups, but this is an artificial classification, quite 

 closely allied species showing this difference (e. g., Cricula trifenestrata and C. andrei). 



Only a portion of the Saturnids has the faculty of spmnmg a cocoon. Nearly all the African and 

 a large proportion of the American Saturnids pupate in the ground without a cocoon, like nearly all Sphingidae, 

 but not one of the Palearctic and ludo-Australian species has lost the faculty of spinning. The cocoons are often 

 different in the different species or genera, but often also vary geographicalh- and individually. The pupae 

 enclosed in cocoons, as might be expected, exhibit characters which are absent in those buried in the ground, 

 while the latter again have special adaptions. In all pupae, in accordance with the slight development of the 

 buccal organs of the moth, the sheaths of the mouth-parts are short, so that the wing-cases always touch one 

 another. Many of the pupae having cocoons are suspended in the latter by means of hooked bristles of the 

 cremaster and sometimes on a special transverse wall. In many species however the pupa lies loose in the co- 

 coon. The bristles of the cremaster are then usually also present, but have more or less lost their hooked shape. 

 In the pupae buried in the ground the cremaster is often long and thin. 



With very fe>v exceptions the moths are nocturnal and many do not fly before midnight. 



Among the Saturnids there are several species which approach Bonibyx mori in economic importance. 

 The production of Saturnid silk is quite considerable in Asia, and large quantities of raw silk and cocoons 

 are exported to Etirope for the manufacture of silk goods. Three A7itheraeae especially are domesticated for the 

 production of silk: In India it is Anthernea inijlitta, from which Tussore silk is obtain°d, in Chhia A. pernyi, 

 and in Japan A. yamamai, both of which live on Oak, and which it has been attempted to breed on a large 

 scale in Europe, with moderate results. 



The family is predominantly tropical, the number of Palearctic species being insignificant as compared 

 with the abundance of species which inhabit tropical America or Africa. But our Region has some character- 

 istic t3q)es. Saturnia, Eudia and Aglia do not extend beyond the Palearctic Region. Neoris, Caligula, Rhodinia. 

 etc., are genera which either only occur on Palearctic territory, or have at most reached the mountains of North- 

 ern India. Other more widely distributed genera have their home in the Himalayan countries, which are 

 Palearctic for the most part, and the neighbouring districts of China, as e. g. Actias and Loepa. The American 

 Saturnid fauna is connected with the Asiatic one by Actias and Saturnia, which in America are represented by 

 allied forms, whose range has become extended southward. 



1. Genus: Acfias Leach. 



Palpi short, of the same colour as the fore tibiae, and therefore contrastuig with the frons. Antenna 

 of J long-quadripectinate, with the exception of the last six to eight segments, which have only one process 

 on each side, this being moreover much shortened: the processes become distinctly shorter from the middle 

 segments both basad as well as apicad; in the 9 also quadripectinate, but the teeth much shorter than in the ^. 

 Head, prothorax and legs not rough, the abdomen and base of wings, however, rough and woolly. Spur of fore 

 tibia scaled; hind tibia with one pair of spurs, tarsi with fairly numerous spines, sole of fifth fore tarsal seg- 

 ment not scaled in $. Cill of both wings closed, cross-vein incurved: forewing with four stibcostal branches 

 on a common stalk, the first branching off far more distally than the fourth, the second quite short, the tliird 

 distinctly downcurved, ending in the outer margin, the lower median proximally to the middle of the cell; 

 hindM'ing produced into a tail. M'hich is supported by three veins (the lower radial and the two median branch- 

 es), cell slender, subcostal near the base, the first radial about in the middle of the cell, more proximal than 

 the two median branches, which are near together. — ■ Larva at first reddish, in the later stages green, with 

 swollen segments, hair thin, long and rather sparse, six rows of low warts clothed with spuies and a very long 

 central hair and u.sually also a few shorter hairs, segment 11 with 5 warts, the dorsal one of which is central 

 and higher than the others, segment 12 with four warts. Cocoon brown, dense, .sptin in one or several leaves 



