171 
SPILOSOMA ACREA. 
PLATE XX. Fig. 1. 
Bombyx acrea, Fair Phal. acrea, A Hot and Smith, Lepid. 
Georg., pi. 67 Spilosoma acrea. West. Drury, i. pi. 3, figs. 2 
- and 3 Arctia Pscuderminea, Peck. 
This genus (the name of which is derived from 
aviXo;, macula, and eu/j.u, cropus ) was first named 
by Mr. Stephens, in his Illustrations of British 
Entomology, and characterised in the following 
manner : Palpi short, a little descending, triarticu- 
late, the two basal joints very hairy, the terminal 
scaly, the basal joint somewhat longer than the 
second, the apical rather small, oval, subconic ; 
maxillae short; antennae slightly bipcctinated in the 
males, serrated in the females, each articulation 
with a bristle at the apex ; head rather small, hairy ; 
thorax and abdomen rather stout in both sexes, 
the latter slightly tufted in the male, acute in the 
female ; wings trigonate, deflexed, and opaque ; legs 
moderately stout ; anterior tibiae short, with a spine 
internally, the four posterior with spurs at the apex. 
Larva slightly tuberculated, each tubercle producing 
a whisker of hairs ; pupa obtuse, folliculated. 
It contains a great number of species both British 
and foreign, remarkable for their beautiful white 
