342 
THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 
the first molt, and the worm becomes lighter and lighter, 
until in the last larval period it is of a cream-white color. 
There is a prominent tubercle on the back of the eighth ab¬ 
dominal segment, resembling those borne by certain larvae of 
the Sphingidse. 
There are many special treatises on this insect, some of 
which should be consulted by any one intending to raise silk¬ 
worms. 
Family Hemileucioe (Hem-i-leu'ci-dae). 
The Hemileucids ( Hem-i-leii'cids ). 
This is a small family containing rather large and con¬ 
spicuously marked insects. The antennae are broadly pec¬ 
tinated in the males and narrowly so or nearly serrate in the 
females. There is only a 
single pair of teeth to each 
segment of the antennae. 
The thorax and abdomen 
are usually thickly clothed 
with long woolly hair; but 
in some species the cloth¬ 
ing of the antennae is less 
woolly and more scale-like. 
As to the wings, the frenu¬ 
lum is wanting, the humer¬ 
al angle of the hind wings 
being largely developed 
(Fig. 420); and in both 
fore and hind wings veins 
V x and V 2 are joined to 
radius by a common stalk. 
Our best-known repre¬ 
sentative is the Maia-moth, 
Hemileuca maia (Hem-i-leu'ca ma'i-a). In this species (Fig. 
421) the wings are thinly scaled, sometimes semi-transparent; 
Fig. 420.—Wings of Hemileuca maia. 
