338 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
transformed to shining brown chrysalids. Early in July, 
and in the middle of the day, I have seen the moths flying 
about grape-vines and creepers, at which time, also, they 
pair and lay their eggs. A more full account of this insect, 
illustrated by figures, will be found in Hovey’s Magazine 
for June, 1844. 
III. MOTHS. (Phalamce.)* 
The third great section of the Lepidoptera, which Lin- 
naeus named JPlialcena , includes a vast number of insects, 
sometimes called millers, or night-butterflies, but more fre- 
quently moths. The latter term, thus applied, comprehends 
not only those domestic moths which, in the young or 
caterpillar state, devour cloth, but all other insects belon"-- 
ing to the order Lepidoptera which cannot be arranged 
among the butterflies and hawk-moths. 
These insects vary greatly in size, color, and structure. 
Some of them, particularly those with gilded wings, are 
very minute ; while the Atlas-moth of China ( Attacm 
Atlas), when its wings are expanded, covei’s a space meas- 
uring nearly nine inches by five and a half ; and the owl- 
moth ( Erebus Strix) has wings which, though not so broad, 
expand eleven inches. Some female moths are destitute 
of wings, or have but very small ones, wholly unfitted 
for flight ; and there are species whose wings are longitu- 
dinally cleft into several narrow rays, resembling feathers. 
The stalk of the antennae of moths generally tapers from 
the base to the end. These parts sometimes resemble 
simple or naked bristles, and sometimes they ai’e plumed 
on each side of the stalk, like feathers. There is often a 
good deal of difference in the antennae, according to the 
sex ; feathered or pectinated antenna; being generally nar- 
rower in the females than in the males ; and there are 
some moths the males of which have feathered antenna 1 , 
* Sec page 320. 
