This tribe is an important one, inasmuch as it contains those few moths whose silk is of present or anticipated commercial value. Many of the British members, even, make silken cocoons of moderate compactness, but none of them yield a quantity and quality of silk to justify any attempt to utilise it in the arts.
There are more than a hundred British species in this group, and these represent no less than seventeen families, which exhibit a great variety in their general appearance and habits.
Family—Nycteolidæ
The Green Silver-lined (Hylophila prasinana)
This family, under the name of Chloephoridæ, is included by some authors among the Tortrices ([page 298]), which they somewhat resemble in habits. It contains only four species, of which we will take one example—the Green Silver-lined.
The fore wings of this insect are pale green, with three oblique silvery white lines, the middle one of which is far more distinct than the other two. The hind wings are silvery white in the female, and yellow in the male. It flies in May, and is common in the wooded districts of the south-eastern counties.
The caterpillar is pale green, dotted and striped with yellow, and has a reddish transverse band on the second segment. It feeds on oak (Quercus Robur), birch (Betula alba), hazel (Corylus
Avellana), beech (Fagus sylvatica), and alder (Alnus glutinosa), from which trees it may be beaten in July and August.