6 — 



ATTEMPT AT A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF 

 THE BOMBYCINE MOTHS. 



\]\ A. S. Packard. 



For several years i)ast 1 have been engaged in studies on the 

 life-histories of the members of this group, as well as on the vena- 

 tion and other characters of the adults; the result has been a con- 

 siderable modilu-ation of the classification given in my earlier 

 papers, and that of later authors. 1 am inclined to regard the 

 Bombyces as a super-family divided into 13 or 14 families. We 

 may begin with what seem to me to be the most generalized forms, 

 those least niodiried by adaj^tation to changed surroundings, viz.: 

 the N'otoJontiihc. These seem to have descended from forms more 

 like the Noctuobombyces or Bombycoidea (Thyatirids) than any 

 other moths, being similar to them not only in larval, but in adult 

 characters. We will not venture to say that the Nc^todontians 

 have directly evi^lved from the Noctuid?e or Noctuina, but they are 

 so similar to them as to be often mistaken for them, in all stages 

 of development; and the ThyatiridDS and Bombyces may have had 

 a common origin from some e.xtinct Noctuid form. 



l'".\MII,\ I. NOTODON ] ID.K. 



In arranging the genera of A'otodoiitidcc, which may be divided 

 into perhaps 6 grou]")s, one should begin first (1) with Gliip/iisia, as 

 the simi)lest most unmodified form, most like the Noctuina. Then 

 U)i\\oyN?< Nadata and Lophodoiita. In these genera the larvK are 

 simple, greenish, with only longitudinal lines, not being ornamented 

 with any spots or humps; the full-fed caterpillars differ but slightly 

 from the freshly hatched young. 



2. In Dataiiii, the body is simjile in shape, but with bright 

 longitudinal bands, and with long hairs. This is succeeded by 

 Apatilodcs^ with its densely hairy body, and its conspicuous pencils. 



3. The ne.xt step in ornamentation, luimi)s being added, is 

 I ch thy lira. 



4. J^/icosia, Notodoiita and Nericc, with their allied genera 

 Edema, Dasylophia, Schiziira, {Ocdonasia), J/yparpax, and /aiiassa 

 form the typiial humped group of the family. 



5. This group is succeeded by a large American grouj") repre- 

 sented by Scirodoiita and Pfetcrocanipa. 



[f. iiiarf/itsia with its long Cerura-like caudal appendages, 

 connects this grou]), with — 



