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Gen. PHALiENA. Fam. BOMBYX. 

 Bombyx Banhstce. PI. 9. 



SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION. 



Bombyx with purplish lead-coloured anterior wings, having several marks of black, and freckled 

 here and there with white and orange dots, and several clouds and dashes of the same : poste- 

 rior wings plain brown and glossy: thorax black, with two white patches near the head: 

 abdomen orange red: tail black. Male much lighter in colour, with the posterior wings 

 whitish and silvery ; and its antennae pectinated at the base. 



The larva of this bold Bombyx we found on a branch of the Banksia figured, 

 which is its common food, and when near transformation it was of consider- 

 able bulk, very showy, and in general a great devourer. It changed to pupa 

 in February, spinning on the surface of the earth a slight web or cell, and 

 collecting about to its disguise some fragments of earth and leaves. In this 

 state it remained thirty-six days, and was on the wing in March. The female 

 is thus shewn at 4; the male at 3; the pupa, with half its cell removed, at 

 2; and the larva at 1. This moth inhabits low and shrubby Banksia trees 

 near Sidney. The plant is the Banksia Ilicifolia, or a variety of Integrifola. 



Obs. We have named this fine insect after the plants on a species of which it feeds, it there- 

 fore stands, as well as those plants, a memorial of the great patron of natural history in Britain, 

 Sir Joseph Banks, who, if we mistake not, gave his name to a tribe of them when he visited 

 the country now called New South Wales. 



