Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/217

171 SPILOSOMA ACREA. PLATE XX. Fig. 1.

genus (the name of which is derived from, macula, and , corpus) was first named by Mr. Stephens, in his Illustrations of British Entomology, and characterised in the following manner: Palpi short, a little descending, triarticulate, the two basal joints very hairy, the terminal scaly, the basal joint somewhat longer than the second, the apical rather small, oval, subconic; maxillæ short; antennæ slightly bipectinated in the males, serrated in the females, each articulation with a bristle at the apex; head rather small, hairy; thorax and abdomen rather stout in both sexes, the latter slightly tufted in the male, acute in the female; wings trigonate, deflexed, and opaque; legs moderately stout; anterior tibiæ short, with a spine internally, the four posterior with spurs at the apex. Larva slightly tuberculated, each tubercle producing a whisker of hairs; pupa obtuse, folliculated. It contains a great number of species both British and foreign, remarkable for their beautiful white