ZEUZERID.'E. 139 



Group 2. BOMBYCINA. 



A very convenient, yet not very homogeneous group, 

 used indeed to include families which, but for their paucity 

 of species, might themselves well lay claim to form separate 

 groups. By no means largely represented with us, in 

 consequence of which the passage from one family to another 

 is, apparently, even more abrupt than where some of the gaps 

 are filled in by the multitude of exotic forms. Yet with 

 these additions, the isolation of certain families is extra- 

 ordinary, while others extend and diverge until they almost 

 interlock with families in what are usually considered to be 

 the most distant groups. 



Distinctive and reliable characters can hardly be furnished, 

 but the forewings are usually blunt and hardly triangular, the 

 bodies are also generally blunt at the end. The antenna? in 

 certain families reach the utmost development of pectination, 

 in others they are simple and threadlike. The forewings are 

 usually broad, but in one large family quite narrow, yet still 

 with the apex obtuse. In many families the hind wings are 

 ample and densely clothed with scales, and as brightly 

 coloured as the forewings ; in others they are thinly scaled 

 and without ornamentation. 



Family 1. ZEUZERID-ffi. 



Antennae rather short ; forewings elongated, hind wings 

 shorter, rather distant at the base ; abdomen much elongated 

 or very stout. 



LarVjE naked, with strong jaws, and a horny pi«.te on the 

 second segment; feeding in the wood or pith of trees or 

 plants. 



PuPiG elongated, with segments deeply divided, and having 

 rows of stiff spines. 



