M
P H A L Æ N A A T L A S .
G E N F .K IC C H A R A C T E E .
Antennas fetaceous. Wings, in general deflexed when a t reft. Fly by nighf.
B o m l y x .
S P E C I F I C C H A R A C T E R .
Wings much falcated or hooked. Colour, yellow brown, varied. A tranfparent fpot in the middle of
each wing; with a fmaller one next that on the anterior pair.
P h a l je n a a t l a s : alis patentibis falcatis luteo variis : macula feneftrata antids fefquialtera.
L'm. Syfi. N a i. T . 2. 808. 1.
Fab. Ent. Syfi. T . 3. f . l . 407. J-
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The Phalænæ are a tribe o f infefts remarkable for tlie neatnefs and flmplicity o f their colours. Their
elegancies confift in the infinite variety, and delicacy o f intermingled tints: the contraft. o f fpots, fpeck-
Hngs, and lineations, which conftitute the mlnutiæ of infeft beauty. Some fpecies are to be excepted in
this remark j the larger kinds are often gaudy, and the fmalleft exhibit a difplay o f the richeft colours,
fancifully difpofed, and moft elegantly diverfified.
The European fpecies are numerous, and pretty well afcertained: thofe of remote countries remain in
great obfcuritv. The fpecies inhabiting China are almoft unknown®; for the lateft iyftematic writer
deferibes not more than twenty fpecies in all the cabinets in Europe. From this fcanty number a few are
felefted to illnftrate the genus, and if thefe appear deficient in point of intereft or variety, it may ftimu-
late others to collefl new fpecies, whenever an opportunity occurs. The Phalæna tribe, not only o f China,
b u t every country, except o f Eurojie, are a defnlcrntum o f entomology. In Europe the number of this
tribe exceeds that o f any o th er: on the contrary, the extra-European fpecies are comparatively the
moft inconfiderable o f our acquifitions. The Papiliones, or Butterflies, are a ihowy and lively race: they
fport in the open fields in day, and a ttra fl the traveller’s curiofity; hence our cabinets abound with them.
But the moth, infinitely more numerous, and not lefs pleafing, is feldom feen ; in the gloominefs of its difpo-
* Fab. Ent. Syfi. Thefe arc chiefly defcribed from infefts in the colleftion of Monfon Londini, o f which no figures are
extant, and the colleftion unknown.
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