LIBRARY

LEPIDOPTERA 491
and especially Neotropical and Ethiopian. (Giant Silk Moths. Wild
Silkworms.) . SATURNIIDlE
Family SATURNIIDlE (Harris 1841) Walker 1855 (Sat'ur-ni'j·dre, from the
Latin Saturnus, an ancient mythical god of seed sowing). German,
Nachtpfauenaugen. Giant Silkworms, Wild Silkworms, Day Flying
Moths.
Large to giant, stout, hairy, brightly and strikingly colored moths which are
among the largest members of the order and of the INSECTA. The wings of
many species have large transparent fenestrre or window-like areas. The entire
oodies and bases of the wings are densely clothed with long soft hairs. Antenna:
short and scaled only at the base; two pairs of pectinre on each segment of both
sexes, short in the females and strongly plumose in the males. Proboscis
abortive. Maxillary palpi absent. Labial palpi short or absent. Wings very
large, wide, hairy; frenulum absent, but humeral angles of the hind pair enlarged;
usually with one anal vein; vein 7 connecting with 8 and 9; hind wings
sometimes with tails (TropEe(J, North America, and Coscinoscera, Australia)
and vein C absent. Basal abdominal spiracles inconspicuous.
The adults are mostly nocturnal; the males are smaller than the females,
about which they often assemble in considerable numbers. The smooth,
rounded and flattened eggs are laid singly or in groups on the host plants. The
caterpillars attain very large proportions and are furnished with scali or spined
tubercles and also in certain species with stinging hairs. They are frequently
green with bright metallic spots that shine like jewels, and many assume a
remarkably ferocious aspect. When mature they spin large silken cocoons
which may be attached to leaves, stems, and branches of trees and shrubs, and
in which the chrysalids often remain over winter. The adults emerge in the
spring through a hole provided by the caterpillar or one made by softening the
silk with a fluid secreted by the adults for this purpose.
The members of the family are large, conspicuous, beautiful, silk-spinning
moths, many of which have long served man in the production of silk which
has been obtained largely from wild and semidomesticated species. At least
30 such species are known to produce usable silk in oriental Asia. They are
generally restricted to the moist temperate and tropical forested areas where an
abundance of food is available for the large caterpillars. The larvre feed chiefly
on broad-leaved deciduous and evergreen trees and from one or two to four or
five generations a year may occur in the different species.
Among the most important and interesting genera may be mentioned:
Actias Leach, Antherrea Hiibner, Attacus Linn., Phitasamia Grote, Samia
Hiibner, and Saturnia Schrank. None of the species are truly domestic silkworms,
but a number of the wild ones have been a source of silk for centuries
and others have been at least partly cultivated and may be classed as semidomestic.
Altogether they have contributed greatly to the benefit of mankind
in providing strong, long-wearing, and warm fabrics. The eggs are usually laid
in the late summer and fall and hatch in the following spring. The species are