LEPIDOPTERA. 201 
tionary, and form a new dwelling in the same manner resem- 
bling a sort of sac and divided internally into several cells. 
They usually issue from it, in the evening, in procession. One 
of them is at the head and acts as a guide, then come two, in 
the next line three, then four, and so on, each line regularly in- 
creasing by a unit. They all follow the course of the leader. 
Each one spins a cocoon, which is placed in contact with that 
of its neighbour, and mingles the hairs of its body in its tissue. 
These hairs, as well as those of several other species, are very 
small and fine, penetrate into the skin, and occasion violent 
itchings and swellings. The 
B. pythio-campa is a species analogous to the processionnea. 
The inhabitants of Madagascar employ the silk of a caterpil- 
lar, which also forms large communities. The nest is some- 
times three feet in height, and so closely are the cocoons 
packed in it, that there is no hiatus to be found. A single nest 
yields five hundred cocoons(1). 
The third section of the Nocturna, that of the PssEupo-BomMBYCEs, 
is composed of Lepidoptera, in which, as well as in the following 
ones, the inferior wings are furnished with a bridle which fixes them 
to the superior, when at rest. They are then entirely covered by 
the latter, both being tectiform or horizontal, but with the inner 
margin overlapped. The proboscis, towards the latter end of the 
tribe, begins to lengthen, and, in the last subgenera, even scarcely 
differs from that of other Lepidoptera, except in being somewhat 
shorter. The antennz are entirely pectinated or serrated, at least 
in the males. All their caterpillars live on the exterior parts of 
plants. 
We will first separate those species in which the proboscis is very 
short, and nowise adapted for suction. 
The caterpillars of some, and the greater number, live exposed 
and do not construct portable dwellings. 
Of these, some are elongated, furnished with ordinary feet well 
adapted for walking; the annuli of the body are not soldered above. 
Sometimes both sexes are provided with wings adapted for flight. 
SERICARIA, Lat. 
Where the superior wings present no dentations in their inner 
margin. 
(1) It belongs to the subgenus Sericaria. 
Vou. IV.—2 A 
