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CHAPTER XVIII 

 BOMBYCES 



THIS tribe is an important one, inasmuch as it contains those few 

 moths whose silk is of present or anticipated commercial value. 

 Many of the British members, even, make silken cocoons of mode- 

 rate compactness, but none of them yield a quantity and quality of 

 silk to justify any attempt to utilise it in the arts. 



There are more than a hundred British species in this group, 

 and these represent no less than seventeen families, which exhibit a 

 great variety in their general appearance and habits. 



Family NYCTEOLHWE 

 The Green Silver-lined (Hylopliila prasinana) 



This family, under the name of Chloephorida, is included by 

 some authors among the Tortrices (page 298), which they some- 

 what resemble in habits. It contains 

 only four species, of which we will take 

 one example the Green Silver-lined. 



The fore wings of this insect are pale 

 green, with three oblique silvery white 

 lines, the middle one of which is far more 

 distinct than the other two. The hind 



wings are silvery white in the female, and Fm 108> _^HE GREEN 

 yellow in the male. It flies in May, and ' SILVER-LINED. 



is common in the wooded districts of the 

 south-eastern counties. 



The caterpillar is pale green, dotted and striped with yellow, 

 and has a reddish transverse band on the second segment. It 

 feeds on oak (Quercus Robur), birch (Betula alba), hazel (Corylus 



