LEPIDOPTERA 199 



MOTHS (Heterocera) 



Antennae of various form, rarely clubbed. Wings usually 

 sloped roofwise, or expanded horizontally when at rest. Body 

 often thick, but slender in Geometridae. 



Division I. — Sphinges (hawk-motlis) 



Large moths, with thick bodies and long, rather narrow 

 fore wings, which are obliquely cut at the end, and some- 

 times hooked at the tip. Antennae often prismatic, narrowed 

 at the base, and sometimes enlarged towards the tip. Pro- 

 boscis usually long and spirally folded. Larva cylindrical, 

 usually with a dorsal horn at the hinder end of the body. 



The death's-head moth {Acherontia atropos) is the largest 

 European moth; it feeds on potato and other plants; visits 

 hives for the sake of honey; and makes a shrill sound by 

 rubbing its finely ridged palps against the proboscis. 



Division IL — Bombyces 



Antennae tapering from the base, often pectinate, and larger 

 in the male. Body thick and rather short. The larvae are 

 mostly hairy and spin a thick silken cocoon. 



Family Arctiidsfr (tiger-moths). The moths are usually 

 variegated with bright colours, and the larvae clothed with long 

 hairs. (See Lesson 14.) 



Family Satumidee. Wings broad, each with an eye. 



The only British species is the emperor-moth. 



Family Bombycidae (true silkworms). The family, as 

 restricted here, is not European, but peculiar to hot countries. 

 The silkworm is described in Lesson 17. 



Family Lasiocampidae (eggars, lappet-moths). One mis- 

 chievous species of this family is the lackey-moth (Clisiocampa 

 neustria). It is perhaps most common on hawthorn hedges, 

 but most exasperating on orchard trees, where it spins great 

 webs, in which scores or even hundreds of larvae live together. 

 They are rather long and slender, and hairy, like most larvae of 

 this family. When superficially examined they appear to be of 

 dark grey colour, but when more closely studied, coloured 

 stripes, scarlet or orange and blue, are seen along the 

 sides, and a pair of dark spots just behind the head. The 



