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Show INSECTA. 200 · · fT • 0 to Latreille, the clty o ur-ern provinces of Chma. Accordmg t"mc tbe rendezvous of fan in Little Ducharia, was for a _Io;g ~repot of the Chinese the' western caravans, and the clueS c:s of Upper Asia, or of silks. It was the metropolis 0~ the f erm their country by the f P 1 ( 1) Dr1ven ro . the Serica o to emy 0 1 9 in Great Buchar1a and Huns, the Seres established the~se lvenies Ser·hend ( Ser·indi), f e of the1r co o ' . in India. It was rom on . n of Justinian, earned the . . ies in the re1g . f that Greek m1ss1onar ' . 1 At the per10d o the . to Constantmop e. . eggs of the sllk·worm . f ilk was introducetl mto the d th culti vat10n o s · f first crusa es, e M a and· several centur1es a ter. f N les from the ore ' . kingdom o ap . : t t' on of Sully particularly, mto d the adnums ra 1 . wards, un er d by the ancients, e1ther by sea S"lks were also procure France. 1 the Oriental Seres, those most d f Pegu and Ava, or f h or Ian rom . ned b the earlier geographers. Some o t e commonly men.tlO 1 d . YG t Bucharia according to a passage S es sett e m rea ' . . northern er . . eem to have made it theu· parhcu- D. · s the h1stor1an, s ~ of 10nyslu . 11 k that silk was formerly sold 101' b . It lS we nown lar u~mes.s. ld d th tit is now a source. of great wealth to its we1ght m go ' an a Fr~c:~ustria ' Fab.; Rres., Insect., I, Class II, Pap. Noct.,_ vi. 1. . h .;1 a band or two transverse, fulvous-brown stripes Yel ow1s Wl 1 • Th ~ ale deposits her h middle of the superior wmgs. e em . oegng ts er oun d branches of trees in the manner of a rmg or brace-le~ fhe caterpillar is striped longitudinally with white, bl~c, a~d reddish, whence l. ts French speci fic nam e of livree. It hves m . t atld is very inJ'urious to fruit trees. It forms a very soc1e y .. h f . thin cocoon inte"mixed with a wbltlS anna. . . ereous· B p,-ocessionnea, Fab.; Reaum., Insect., II, x, :n. Cm f win. s of the same cqlour; two obscure stripes near the ~ase.o the ~pper ones, and a third, blackish, a little beyond thelr mld· dle all transverse. . 'th a The body of the caterpillars is obscure-cmereou~ w~ blackish back, and spme yellowish tubercles. They hve m ::~ ciety on the Oak, spin in common, when young, a tent, bene . which they are sheltered, change their domicil frequently untll after their third change of tegument, when they become sta· LEPiDOPTERA. 201 tionary, and form a new dwelling in the same manner resembling a .sort of sac and divided internally into several cells. They usually issue from it, in the evening, in procession. One of them is at the head and acts as a guide, then come two, in the next line three, then four, and so on, each line regularly increasing by a unit. They all follow the course of the leader. Each one spins a cocoon, which is placed in contact with that of its neighbour, and mingles the hairs of its body in its tissue. These hairs, as well as those of several other species, are very small and fine, penetrate into the skin, and occasion violent itchings and swellings. The B. pythio.campa is a species analogous to the processionnea. The inhabitants of Madagascar employ the silk of a caterpillar, which also forms large communities. The nest is sometimes three feet in height, and so closely are the cocoons packed in it, that there is no hiatus to be found. A single nest yields five hundred cocoons( 1 ). The third section of the N octurna, that of the PsEuDo-BoMBYoEs, is composed of Lepidoptera, in which, as well as in the following ones, the inferior wings are furnished with a bridle which fixes them to the superior, when at rest. They are then entirely covered by the latter, both being tectiform or horizontal, but with the inner margin overlapped. The proboscis, towards the latter end of the tribe, begins to lengthen, and, in the last subgenera, even scarcely differs from that of other Lepidoptera, except in being somewhat shorter. The antennre are entirely pectinated or serrated, at least in the males. All their caterpillars live on the exterior parts of plants. We will first separate those species in which the proboscis is very short, and nowise adapted for suction. The caterpillars of some, and the greater number, live exposed and do not construct portable dwellings. Of these, some are elongated, furnished with ordinary feet well adapted for walking; the annuli of the body are not soldered above. Sometimes both sexes are provided with wings adapted for flight. SERIOARIA, Lat. Where the superior wings present no dentations i~ their inn~r margin. (1) It belongs to the subgenus Sericaria. VoL. IV.-2 A |
