LEPIDOPTERA. 199 
green, with blue tubercles, arranged in rings from which issue 
long clavate hairs. Inthe month of August it spins an oval co- 
coon, narrowed into a blunt point with a double neck, the inte- 
rior of which is partly formed of elastic and convergent threads 
that facilitate the egress of the Insect, but prevent the ingress 
ofenemies. The silk is very strong and adhesive. The perfect 
insect appears in the May of the following year(1). 
The superior wings of the other Bombycites are tectiform, and 
the exterior margin of the inferior ones project almost horizontally 
—ale reverse—beyond them. 
Sometimes their palpi project in the manner of a rostrum, and 
their inferior wings are frequently dentated. The Insect resembles 
a bundle of dead leaves. These species form the genus 
Lasrocampa(2). 
Those, in which the inferior palpi are not remarkably salient, com- 
pose the subgenus 
Bompyx proper(3). 
B. mori, L.3 Rees., Insect., III, vii, ix. Whitish, with two 
or three obscure and transyerse streaks; a lunated spot on the 
superior wings. 
The caterpillar is well known by the name of Si/k-worm. It 
‘feeds on the leaves of the Mulberry, and spins an oval cocoon of 
a close tissue with very fine silk, usually of a yellow colour, and 
sometimes white. A variety is now preferred, which always 
yields the latter. 
The Bombyx which produces it is originally from the north- 
(1) For the other species, see Fab., Syst. Entom., first division of Bombya; and 
Oliv., Encyc. Méthod., first division of the same genus. 
(2) The B, quercifolia, populifolia, betulifolia, illicifolia, potatoria, of Fabricius. 
This subgenus forms part of the genus Gastropacha of Ochsenheimer. 
M. Banon of Toulon, to whose friendship I am indebted for many Insects col- 
lected by him in Cayenne and the Leyant, has given me a Lepidopterous Insect, 
having all the characters of a Lasiocampa, but furnished with a very distinct pro- 
boscis. It seems to form the passage from this subgenus to the Calyptra of Och- 
senheimer. 
(3) This generic appellation has been improperly suppressed by Ochsenheimer. 
We will apply it generically to all the species of his genus Gaslropdcha, in which 
the inferior palpi do not project in the manner of a rostrum. 
