143 



THE SILKWORM MOTH. 



Phaliena Mori. 



PLATE xcvi. 



Phalaena Mori, Linn. Si/st. Nat. ii. p. 817 — Turton's 



Linni, iii. p. 204 Harris's Aurelian, pi. 13, fig. f. f — 



Albin, pi. 12, fig. IG. 



The Silkworm Moth is of a pale buff colour, 

 having two faint lines crossing the wings, which are 

 slightly bent, or curved at their apices. The figure 

 at Plate XCVI. is about the size of nature. 



Pullein, a popular writer, has justly observed, 

 " There is scarcely any thing among the various 

 wonders which the animal creation affords, more 

 admirable than the variety of changes whicli the Silk- 

 worm undergoes ; but the curious texture of the 

 silken covering with which it surrounds itself when 

 it arrives at the perfection of its animal life, vastly 

 surpasses what is made by other animals of this class. 

 All the caterpillar kind do, indeed, undergo changes 

 like those of the Silkworm, and the beauty of many 

 of them in their butterfly state greatly exceeds it ; 

 but the covering which they put on before this change 

 into a fly state, is poor and mean when compared to 



