CHAPTEE XVI 



INSECTA (continued) 



Order I. : Lepidoptera 



Moths (Heterocera) 



General THAT group of the Lepidoptera to which moths 

 Character- belong is a very large, and a rather heterogeneous 

 " isties. Qjjg^ jjy^^ g^jj jt^g members are usually to be known 

 by the form of the antennae, which are thickest in the middle 

 and pointed at the tip. Often also they are set with fine hairs, 

 when they are said to be "feathered" or pectinate (Fig. 144,e,/). 

 Most moths have thicker, heavier bodies, and wings with duller 

 colouring, than butterflies. They usually fly at night and 

 pupate in the earth, or occasionally in the air, in which case 

 they surround themselves with a cocoon — an extra wrapping of 

 silk threads sometimes intermixed with hairs or earth. When 

 at rest, a moth usually holds its wings horizontally over its back 

 instead of vertically as is the habit of butterflies. In some few 

 moths there is no proboscis, the maxillary lobes hanging freely 

 from the mouth, e.g. in the Wood Leopard {Zeuzera pyrina). 

 The Silk- Perhaps the moth whose life -history is most 



worm Moth frequently watched and is best known, even in 

 (Bombycidae). ^^j^jg country where it is not a native, is the 

 Silkworm Moth (Bombyz mori), which feeds on the leaves of 

 the mulberry tree, or, if these are not to be had, on lettuce. 

 This moth has been widely cultivated in many lands for 

 so many ages, because of the valuable silk the larva spins, 

 that its real native country is not certainly known, but it 

 seems probable that it came originally from China. It is 

 related that in 2600 B.C.,^ Si-ling-chi, the wife of the emperor of 



^ L'Histoire ginirale de la Chine, by M. Mailla. 

 226 



