Gastrcpacha. 127 



Africa. The larva is green, with a reddish-brown line bordered with white on the back, and 

 transverse bands, alternately brown and white, on the sides, bearing white tubercles studded with 

 short hair. It feeds on Pinus maritiiiia in July, and the moth appears in the following May. 



GENUS V. — ATTACUS (LINN.). 



The fore-wings are deeply concave below the tip ; the body is stout and very short ; and the 

 central spots are crescent-shaped instead of round. I include *A. Cynthia (Drury) — the well- 

 known Ailanthus Silkworm — in the present work, because, although an East Indian insect, it is 

 naturalised at Colchester, Paris, and probably other places in Europe. The moth is dull olive- 

 green, with a black ocellus, edged internally with a white lunule, a little below the tip of the 

 fore-wings. Both wings are traversed by a broad suffused pink band, edged internally with white 

 and then black, which touches the extremity of a large transparent lunule, edged below with 

 yellow. On the fore-wings the inner extremity of the lunule touches a white stripe running from 

 the costa, which there meets a similar one running from the base. There is also a white transverse 

 stripe towards the base of the hind-wings. Expands from 5 to 6 inches. The larva varies from 

 yellow to greyish-blue and deep green, according to age ; it is spotted with black, and studded 

 with long white tubercles, which secrete a waxy powder. It feeds on Ailantlius glaudiilosa (a 

 naturalised tree), but will also eat lilac, &c., and constructs a cocoon resembling course brownish 

 paper, which is folded in a leaf of the tree. The insects pass the winter in the pupa state, and 

 the moths emerge in early summer, when they lay eggs, which hatch within a fortnight. (The 

 oak-feeding silkworms from China and Japan, Aiithcrcca Pcrnyi and Yauia-Mai of Guerin- 

 Meneville, only require a passing notice here, as they are never likely to become naturalised 

 in Europe. They are nearly of the shape and size of Satuniia Pyri, and are generally of a buff 

 or yellow colour, with a large, round, perfectly transparent spot in the middle of each wing, and a 

 pale line near the hind margins.) 



FAMILY XL— LASIOCAMPID/E. 



Rather large or moderate-sized moths, with thick, hairy bodies, and strong wings, which are 

 not large in comparison to the size of the insects. The antennie are short, pectinated in the male, 

 and sliglitly so in the female. The legs are short and strong, the hind tibire have spurs at the 

 end only, and the abdomen extends rather beyond the anal angle of the hind-wings. The fore- 

 wings form a longer or shorter triangle, and are slightly pointed at the tips ; the hind-wings are 

 small and rounded, and are not folded in repose. All the wings have a short discoidal cell, and the 

 hind-wings have generally an accessory cell at the base, from which nervule 7 and the costal 

 nervure rise. The larvae have sixteen legs, and are covered with soft hair or fur, and are some- 

 times tufted. They change into a thick obtuse pupa, and the moths fly very rapidly by night or 

 in the day-time, and hold their wings steeply sloping when at rest, so that the costa of the hind- 

 wings often projects from under the fore-wings. The female is generally larger than the male, and 

 of a much paler colour. 



GENUS I. — GASTROPACHA (OCHS.). 



The palpi project in a kind of beak, and the hind margins are dentated ; those of the fore- 

 wings being very long and curved. The larvae cling closely to the trunks and branches of trees- 

 The cocoon is loose, and the pupa is dusted with whitish. 



