FAMILY BOMBYCID^E 



" And thou, the insect of an hour, 

 O'er Time to triumph wouldst pretend ; 

 With nerves of grass wouldst brave the power 

 Beneath which pyramids must bend! " 



CARL GUSTAF AF LEOPOLD. 



The Bombycidce were originally confined to the Asiatic conti- 

 nent, and more particularly to the southeastern portions of that 

 great land mass. The family is quite small and includes only a 

 few genera. Of these the genus Bombyx is the only one 

 which is well known. The family has been characterized as 

 follows by Sir George F. Hampson, in "The Moths of India," 

 Vol. I, p. 31: 



"Proboscis absent, palpi rather small or absent; antennae 

 bipectinated in both sexes; legs hairy, without spurs. Frenulum 

 absent; vein 5 of both wings from or from above the middle of 

 the discocellulars; veins 7, 8, and 9 of the fore wing generally 

 more or less bent downward; vein la forming or not forming 

 a fork with \b\ \c absent or present. Hind wing with two or 

 three internal veins; vein 8 arising from the base of 7, or free 

 from the base with a bar between them ; the inner margin irreg- 

 ular and in part turned over. 



Larva elongate and not hairy; dorsal humps on some of 

 the somites, or a horn on the terminal somite, or paired dorsal 

 spines. 



Cocoon formed of fine silk of great commercial value." 



Genus BOMBYX Linnaeus 



(i) Bombyx mori Linnaeus. 



The silk-worm of commerce is not known to exist in a feral 

 or wild state in the regions where it is now most commonly 



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