THE “BOMBYCES”: WHAT ARE THEY?

Extract

It might be better to say “what were they?” in an article addressed to readers of to-day, since the name in its old sense will not be found in the most recent writings of Packard, Comstock, Chapman, Grote, and other authors. However, the group is adopted in our latest check-list (Nos. 877–1459), although without its name, Prof. Smith stating that he could not limit the group to his satisfaction. Also, as recently as 1893, Dr. Packard published an “Attempt at a new classification of the Bombyces,” including in the group all the families formerly included, but altering their sequence. Following the arrangement of suborders proposed by Prof. Comstock, and the division into superfamilies which I have suggested and which Mr. Grote has adopted with improved nomenclature, let us see where the families of “Bombyces” fall.