THE BOMBYCINE MOTHS OF AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO. 



CONTENTS 



1. lutroduction. 

 II. Hints on the mixle of Evolntion of the Bristles, 

 Spiui's, aiul Tubercles of Notoiloutiau and other 

 Caterpillars. 



III. On Certain Points in the external Anatomy of Bom- 



bycine Larvie. 



IV. On the Ineon,;;ruenee between the Larval and Adult 



Characters of Xotodoutians. 

 V. Inheritance of Characters acquired during the Life- 

 time of Lepidopterous LarviE. 



VI. (;eogra))hical Distribution of the American Xoto- 

 doutida'. 

 Vn. Phylogeny of the Lopidoptera. 

 VIII. Attempt at anew Classification of the Lepidoptera. 

 IX. A rational Nomenclature of the Veins of the Winga 



of Insects, especially the Lepidoptera. 

 X. Systematic Revision of the Notodnntida^, with spec- 

 ial Reference to their Transformations. 



I.— INTRODUCTION. 



For some years past the nriter lias been collec ing materials for a general acconnr, systematic 

 ■and developmental, of our North American Bombyciue moths. The leading object or motif of 

 the essay has been to collect materials for ^vorking out the origin of the larval forms of the higher 

 Lepidoptera. 



The attempt has been made, so far as material and o]iportunity have allowed, to describe in 

 us detailed a way as possible the transformations of our Bombycine moths, in the light of the 

 r.'cent very suggestive and stimulating work of Weismann, entitled Studies in tlie Theories of 

 Descent (1SS2). Until within a few years the majority of descriptions of caterpillars have been 

 prepared simply for the purpose of identification, or for taxonomical uses, and without reference 

 ti) the philosophic or general zoological significance of these changes. The transformations of 

 some of the European Spliingidte have been very carefully worked out by Weismann, and also by 

 Poulton, but it is believed that the life histories of the lower, more generalized families usually 

 referred to the Bombyces, especially of the Notodontida-, Ceratocampi(hp, Saturniida:', Hemileu- 

 cidre, Cochliopodida-, and LasiocampidiTe, will bring out still more striking and valuable results, 

 inasmuch as they, or forms near them now extinct, are believed to be closely similar to the stem 

 forms from which many of the higher Lepidoptera have probably been evolved. 



The aim therefore in such studies should be — 



1. To treat the larva- as though they were adult, independent animals, and to work out their 

 specific and generic as well as family characters. 



2. To trace the origin of mimetic and protective characters, and to ascertain the time of larval 

 life when they are assumed, involving — 



3. The history of the development of the more specialized setaj (hairs), spines, tubercles, lines, 

 spots, and other markings.' 



■Besides the work of Weismann, compare also tlie suggestive papers of E. B. Poulton. in Transactions of the 

 Entomological Society of London, 1881-1888, and my papers: Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 xxiv-v, 1890-91. 



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