COLLECTION OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. j(JI 



liiat modern naturalists have been obliged to sub 

 divide it into twenty-five or thirty genera ; the 

 principal of which are the bombyx, noctua,pha- 

 Icena, hepialus, pyralis, tinea, and pterophorus. 

 The characters of these divisions have been de- 

 rived from their simple or pectinated antennae, 

 from the snout, the disposition of the wings, the 

 form of the caterpillars and the number of their 

 feet. These insects have not in general the bril- 

 liant and varied colours which strike us in the 

 diurnal lepidoptera, but their history is particu- 

 larly interesting on account of their industry and 

 habits in the caterpillar state, as well as^of the 

 injury which we experience from some, and of 

 the riches which we derive from others. Some 

 species are remarkable also, when in their per- 

 fect state, for their size, which almost equals 

 that of our bat. Most of the caterpillars of this 

 large family have within them two vessels filled 

 with a substance of which they spin their silk ; 

 these terminate at the lower lip, whence pro- 

 ceed the delicate threads that compose the co- 

 coon, in which they remain during the chrysalis 

 state. 



The collection of nocturnal lepidoptera occu- 

 pies eighteen frames, many of which are calcu- 

 lated to afford information concerning the dif- 

 ferent metamorphoses and the labours of these 



