THE LITHOSIANS. 
341 
and transformations of the JEgerians ; or we may begin 
with the smaller species, with hairy caterpillars, whose hab- 
its and transformations are like those of the Glaucojridians, 
and which resemble the latter closely in the winged state ; 
and thus the series, from Procris and other moth-like 
Sphinges to the true Moths , will he uninterrupted. The 
latter, on the whole, seems to be the most natural course, 
and it agrees with the arrangement of Dr. Boisduval, which 
I shall follow, with some slight changes only. 
Agreeably to this arrangement the first family of the Bom- 
byces will be the Lithosians (LitiiosiaD/e), so named from 
two Greek words,* meaning a stone, and to live ; for the 
caterpillars of many of these insects live in stony places, 
and devour the lichens growing on rocks. (Such also are 
the habits of Grlaucopis Pholus 
(Fig. 104), one of the Glaucopid- 
ians.) On this account they are 
not properly subjects for notice in 
this essay ; but as some of the 
larger species are grass-eaters, are 
conspicuous for their beauty, and naturally conduct to 
another family particularly obnoxious to the cultivators of 
the soil, it may be interesting to point out their distinguish- 
ing traits. 
The Lithosians are slender-bodied moths, mostly of small 
size, whose rather narrow upper or fore wings, when at 
rest, generally lie flatly on the top of the back, crossing 
or overlapping each other on their inner margins, and 
entirely covering the under wings, which are folded longi- 
tudinally, and, as it were, moulded around the body ; more 
rarely the wings slope a little at the sides, and cover the 
back like a low roof. The antennae are rather long, and 
bristle-formed ; sometimes naked in both sexes, more often 
slightly feathered with a double row of short hairs beneath, 
* This is the derivation given by M. Godart, Hist. Nat. Lepidopt. do France, 
Vol. V. p. 10. 
Fig. m. 
