Cnethocampa. 1 33 



FAMILY XII.— BOMBYCID^. 



The only European species is tlie well-known Silkworm {Boinbjx Mori, Linn.), which is reared 

 throughout Southern Europe (where its silk is a staple article of trade), and has become naturalised 

 in many places, though it was originally a native of China. The palpi are very short, the body 

 is large and thick, and the abdomen extends beyond the hind-wings. The antennae are deeply 

 pectinated in both sexes, and the legs are stout and hairy. The wings, which have lost their power 

 of flight in the domesticated races from disuse, expand from i^ to 2 inches, and are of a yellowish- 

 white, with indistinct dusky transverse lines. The fore-wings are slightly falcate. The larva is 

 creamy-white, with a hump on the last segment but one. Its real food is the white mulberry, 

 but in England it is often fed on lettuce. It spins a small oval yellow or white cocoon, but is 

 not reared for commercial purposes in England. I have been informed by an experienced silk- 

 throwster of Dublin, that British-grown silk, although of excellent quality, is too short to be 

 of any commercial value. 



FAMILY XIII.— NOTODONTID^. 



Moderate-sized or rather large moths, generally with stout hairy bodies extending beyond the 

 hind-wings. The wings are strong ; the fore-wings long and triangular, often with a projecting 

 tooth-like tuft of scales on the inner margin ; the hind-wings slenderer, smaller, and folded in 

 repose. The thorax is short, and the antennae of the male are pectinated, and those of the female 

 are more slightly pectinated, serrated, or simply ciliated. The tongue and palpi are generally 

 slightly developed ; the legs are short, and the thighs are densely woolly. Several species have 

 ocein. The larvae are naked, or thinly clothed with hair, with sixteen legs, or fourteen when the 

 claspers are absent ; and the pupae are generally thick and obtuse. The moths fly at night, but 

 may often be found resting on tree-trunks, &c., in the day-time, with their wings sloping rather 

 steeply, and the front pair of legs generally extended. Most of the species emerge from the 

 cocoon in the evening. Though widely distributed, many species of this family seem to be rare 

 everywhere. 



GENUS I. — CNETHOCAMPA (STEPH.). 



The moths resemble the smaller Lasiocampidce ; the fore-part of the body is densely woolly, 

 and the fore-wings are broad, rounded, and triangular, with a dark central lunule, two or three 

 dark transverse stripes, of which the hindermost is slightly dentated, and the fringes spotted 

 with paler ; the hind-wings are small, rounded, and whitish. The larva; have sixteen legs, and 

 are clothed with fine barbed hairs ; they live in webs, and go to feed in a regularly-arranged order, 

 whence they are called Processionary Caterpillars. They construct firm oval cocoons, mixed with 

 hairs, which are enclosed in a large common web. The insects are not so common as might be 

 supposed from their gregarious habits. The hairs of the larvae, as well as the dust in the webs, 

 are highly irritating to the skin ; a property from which even the hairs of the moths are not 

 wholly free. 



I. C. P roccssionca (L'xnn.). — Fore-wings shining yellowish-grey, with dark grey transverse stripes 

 and an indistinct central lunule ; hind-wings with a dark transverse shade. Forehead hairy. 

 Expands rather more than i inch. Common throughout a great part of Southern and Central 

 Europe (except Britain), though somewhat local, in August and September. The larva is bluish- 



