2IO 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



the same time species of a middle and small size. These moths take 

 no nourishment, and live only for a short time long enough to 

 propagate their species. They rarely fly during the day, only showing 

 themselves in the evening. The group is dispersed over nearly all 

 parts of the world, and may be recognised by the antennas generally 

 being cut like the teeth of a comb in the males, by their thick, strong 

 bodies, and, in the majority of cases, "by their large head, by their 

 wings more or less large, and by their heavy flight. 



Fig. 200. Larva of the Poplar Hawk-Moth (Smerintkus fopnli). 



In the Bombytina are found the genera Sericaria, Attacus, Bombyx, 

 Orgyia, Liparis, &c. 



It is to the genus Bombyx that the silkworm belongs, that 

 celebrated insect called by Linnaeus Bombyx mori, a name which 

 reminds us at the same time of its most ancient denomination, and of 

 the mulberry tree, on which these caterpillars feed. 



M. Gudrin-Meneville has called the silkworm " the dog of insects," 

 for it has been domesticated from the most ancient times, and has 

 become deprived of great part of its strength in the process. The 

 moth of the silkworm can no longer keep its position in the air, or on 

 the leaves of the mulberry when they are agitated by the wind. It 

 can no longer protect itself, under the leaves, from the burning heat 

 of the sun and from its enemies. The female, always motionless, 



