340 LEPIDOPTEKA. 



almost to a point at the other; and they are destitute of 

 the angular elevations which are found on the chrysalids 

 of butterflies. 



These brief remarks, which are necessarily of a very 

 general nature, and comprise but a few of the principal 

 diiferences observable in these insects, must suffice for the 

 present occasion. 



Linnaeus divided the Moths into eight groups ; namely, 

 Attaei, Bombyces, Noctuce, G-eometrce, Tortrices, Pyralides, 

 TinecB, and Alucitce ; and these (with the exception of the 

 Attaei, which are to be divided between the Bomhyces and 

 Noctuce) have been recognized as well-marked groups, and 

 have been adopted by some of the best entomologists * who 

 succeeded him. 



1. Spinners. {Bombyces.) 



The BoMBYCES, so called from Bomhyx, the ancient name 

 of the silk-worm, are mostly thick-bodied moths, with anten- 

 nae in the greater number feathered or pectinated,' at least 

 in the males, the tongue and feelers very short or entirely 

 wanting, the thorax woolly, but not crested, or very rarely, 

 and the fore legs often very hairy. Their caterpillars have 

 sixteen legs, are generally spinners, and, with few excep- 

 tions, make cocoons within which they are transformed. 



This tribe has been subdivided into a number of lesser 

 groups or families ; but naturalists are not at all agreed upon 

 the manner in which these should be arranged. We might 

 place at the head of the tribe those large moths, whose 

 Sphinx-like caterpillars are naked and warty, and which, 

 in the winged state, are ornamented with eye-like spots 

 like the Smerinthi; or we might place first in the series 

 the moths whose caterpillars are wood-eaters, with the habits 



* It is hardly necessary to say that among these are Denis and SchiffermilUer, 

 the authors' of the celebrated 'Vienna' Catalogue, besides Latreille, Leach, Ste- 

 phens, and others, whose classifications of the Moths, how much soever varied 

 enlarged, or improved, are essentially based on the arrangement proposed by 

 Linnaeus. 



