LEPIDOPTERA. 473 



and the third, by the following characters : the proboscis always very short, 

 and merely rudimental; wings eitlier extended and horizontal or tectiform, 

 but the lower ones extending laterally beyond the others; antennae of the 

 males entirely pectinated. 



The caterpillars Uve in the open air, and feed on the tender parts of plants. 

 Most of them form a cocoon of pure silk. The margin of the abdominal 

 annuli is not dentated in the chrysalis. 



BoMBTX proper. 



B-moriyL.. Whitish, with two or three obscure and transverse streaks; a 

 lunated spot on the superior wings. 



The caterpillar is well known by the name of Silk-worm. It feeds on the 

 leaves of the Mulbeny, 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 northern provinces 

 of Cliina. According to Latreille, the city of Turfan, in Little Bucharia, 

 was for a long time the rendezvous of the western caravans, and the chief 

 entrepot of the Chinese silks. It was the metropolis of the Seres of Upper 

 Asia, or of the Serica of Ptolemy. Driven from their country by the Huns, 

 the Seres established themselves in Great Bucharia and in India. It was 

 from one of their colonies, Ser-hend (Ser-indi), that Greek missionaries, in 

 the reign of Justinian, carried the eggs of the silk-worm to Constantinople. 

 At the period of the first crusades, tlae cultivation of silk was introduced 

 into the kingdom of Naples from the Morea, and several centuries after- 

 wards, under the administration of Sully particularly, into France. It is 

 well known that silk was formerly sold for its weight in gold, and that it 

 is now a source of great wealth to France. 



3. The PsEUDo-BoMBicES, are 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 anten- 

 nae are entirely pectinated or serrated, at least in the males. All their 

 caterpillars live on the exterior parts of plants. 



There are eight subgenera, Sericaria, Notodonta, Orgyia, &c. 



4. The Aposuha are removed, as we have observed in the general 

 divisions of this family, by a unique character, viz. tlie absence of the anal 

 feet of the animal in its larva state. The posterior extremity of the body 

 terminates in a point, which in several is forked, or even presents two long, 

 articulated, and movable appendages, forming a sort of tail. Witli respect 



3 K 



