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Wild Texas Hearts Series Prequel
By Deborah Garland
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Cowboy’s Forbidden Crush Copyright ©2021 Deborah Garland
The Cowboy’s Last Song Sample Copyright ©2021 Deborah Garland

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this

copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are

fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations,
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Edits by:
Julie K. Cohen
Angela Christina Archer
Samantha Soccorso

Cover Designed with Canva

Published by Deborah A. Garland

www.deborahgarlandauthor.com
Table of Contents
Title Page

Copyright Page

THE COWBOY’S FORBIDDEN CRUSH

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

THE COWBOY’S LAST SONG

MORE BOOKS BY DEBORAH GARLAND

HERE’S DEBORAH
 THE COWBOY’S
FORBIDDEN CRUSH

Dr. Walker Rhodes, DVM:

Rule #1: I don’t do relationships.

Rule #2: I don’t sleep with the vet students in my class.

When Emmaline Phillips waltzes into my class, I break my rule about

not sleeping with any of my vet students. Not that I’ve slept with
her. Yet.

But I will.

Smart and beautiful with long blonde hair I’ll wrap around my hands,
and caramel eyes that stare back at me, Emmaline licks those cherry
red lips when she thinks I’m not looking. But I’m watching her every
move while I wait to make her mine.

Graduation day.

As soon as we’re no longer teacher and student, I’ll get her in my

bed and keep her there until she leaves this small Texas town to
chase her dreams in the Kentucky Bluegrass. She’s got plans that
don’t include me.

Perfect. I’m not looking for long term. Just enough time with her to
satisfy my needs...and to get her out of my head.

But when a twist of fate makes this filly my summer intern before I
can wrangle her properly, she’s once again off-limits.
She keeps licking her fucking plump red lips. There’s no way I’m
going to last. I may be a horse vet, but I’m a cowboy through and
through. I need to stop making excuses and break Rule #2. Take
this filly for a ride she won’t forget.

As long as I remember not to break Rule #1, I’ll be fine.

But can all this no-strings sex lead to something we’re not
expecting? Her staying in our small town and me...falling in love?
 Chapter One

Walker

F
ifteen fucking minutes...

I murmured under my breath, dragging the expletive deep into

my chest. A teacher shouldn’t curse in the presence of students.
Okay, college professor. Even a veterinary medical school professor
who teaches fine, young adults how to treat sick livestock shouldn’t
be dropping f-bombs. Especially not when these kids were struggling
through my ridiculously hard final exam.
“Fifteen minutes, everyone.” I checked the clock above the
smartboard behind me and looked back out at the mini-auditorium
with several tiers of wide wheat-colored laminate desks.
Students avoided my class because I was brutal, so I respected
those who showed up on day one. When Emmaline Phillips waltzed
into my Large Animal Medicine and Surgery class in January, I nearly
canceled the damn thing because I didn’t trust myself not to do
something stupid. Like ask out a student!
With no other sections of this class being offered during the day
and knowing Emmaline and a few others needed it to graduate, I
soldiered through. Seeing her young, lush body day after day,
wishing she were mine, wishing I could drive into her tender flesh
every night made these past several months pure torture.
No other student, heck, no other woman, had ever affected me
in such a visceral way.
I stood to get the feeling back in my legs. “And don’t be a hero.
Answer the bonus questions. Some of ya’ll are gonna need it.”
Emma tapped the cap end of her pen on her test and stared up
at the ceiling, stroking her throat. I swore I could hear her
breathing, not normal breathing either. The type where a woman’s
breath hitches when my cock strikes that one spot inside of her to
make her go all limp. I swore Emma looked fuckable just to tease
me.
 That had been the longest spring semester of my life. I’d truly
never seen a more beautiful woman with a body for sin. Long blonde
hair and caramel eyes grabbed me by the throat three damn days a
week for months. I struggled all this time not to be horrified with
myself, a guy approaching forty lusting after a twenty-something. I
liked experience in my bed, but I also liked being in control. Frankly,
Emmaline had me losing my mind.
But the soon-to-be Dr. Emmaline Phillips was still my student,
and I was her teacher.
That made her off limits.
Forbidden.
“Finish up, everyone,” I ground out.
I didn’t teach for the money. I wanted to shape future
veterinarians. Tatum Veterinary College was in the top ten and one
reason I stayed in Wild Heart, Texas, a small town about one
hundred miles from Houston. My private practice did well, and I’d
recently renewed my lucrative contract with Renner Ranch. Cord
Renner bought, bred, and trained show horses.
I also had no interest in relationships. My older brother, Parker,
had the responsibility to carry on the Rhodes name. And so long as
the guy was over forty and hadn’t pushed out a young-un, my
parents’ aim stayed squarely on him. He came through here around
five years ago and I hadn’t seen him since. With Mom and Dad
celebrating their retirement on the high seas, I saw little of them
too.
What I did see?
I saw Emmaline through my hooded glare, answering my test
questions. Those small tugs on her lips, smiling through the test
meant she was nailing it.
I wanted to nail her. That’s how crazy she made me. She was
unique for this school, brainy and banging hot. My typical female
students were bulky nerds. Nothing wrong with that. Large animal
veterinary medicine wasn’t glorious work. A sick cow or horse wasn’t
a puppy with a cold. I only taught the senior class, so those students
who made it that far were serious, hard workers. Sadly, not many
women made it to the final year in the large animal specialties at
Tatum. Treating ranch livestock was just rough work.
Imagine my surprise to see a woman who could win a Miss Texas
competition strut in and maintain a 4.0 GPA on both the theoretical
and practical portions of the course work. Classes that included
giving a sick horse an anal cavity exam.
I wanted to give her...
I bit back my dirty thoughts. I could lose control with her. I
forced my eyes away when she stood up. Standing next to her in the
lab, I’d figured her to be around five-seven. A good compliment to
my six-three height.
Her sweet perfume hit me as she got closer and I grew hard.
Throughout the semester, her coy looks, the way she touched
herself when she knew I was looking, all made me wonder if she
wanted me, too. Okay, most women wanted me and my bed was
never cold. Or hadn’t been cold before Emmaline entered my class
that first day. Now, my bed had been empty far too long.
The past few months I’d only wanted Emmaline, and I wasn’t the
kind of asshole to screw one woman while thinking of another. My
hand and fantasies kept me semi-sane this semester. Because even
if some buckle bunny caught my eye in a bar or some horse show
princess on the Renner Ranch shifted her ass in the saddle flying
over a fake fence, I would see Emmaline a few days later and the
thought of taking anyone else to bed faded away.
“All finished?” I asked Emmaline when she appeared at the
podium in front of the class. Good thing because I was rock hard.
“Piece of cake,” she purred at me.
She dressed differently to lessons than my other female students.
Like today in a short denim skirt and floral top, just begging to fall
off her creamy shoulders. When we were in the barn with livestock
or in the lab, she showed brains and wore jeans. Tight, of course.
One pair had all these slashes, and in the rear, those cuts went all
the way up her thigh and either she hadn’t been wearing panties or
wore one of those lace thongs I loved.
“Thank you, Dr. Rhodes,” she said and held her hand out to me.
 My heart jumped in my chest and I stepped around the podium,
hard on be damned. My jeans hopefully hid it, but given this was the
very last day of class, I wasn’t sure I gave a shit.
“Good luck, Miss Phillips.” I shook her hand. Emmaline. I never
used her first name. I couldn’t get it past my lips without dragging
her mouth to mine.
Leave.
Once she passed the classroom door, she wasn’t my student and
I could make a move on her.
Just you wait, Emmaline. I’m gonna rock your world.
“Oh, this test was torture,” she said, throaty and leaned her palm
on her test which was turned over.
I’d been too focused on her use of the word torture. Sex games
were never my thing. I didn’t have to play games with women. She
kept her hand on her test longer than I expected, but my eyes
stayed on her.
Do you feel the same way, sugar? Do you want to fuck me, too?
“Take care, Miss Phillips.”
“You, too.” Her eyes drifted down to her hand, but I used it as
the last chance to look at her in the odd event I never saw her
again. I wanted to drink her in one last time. Every tilt of her head
and bite on her lips would appear in my fantasies when I jerked off
thinking of her.
Which was often.
She straightened and turned around, the backs of her legs would
make appearances in my fantasies as I imagined taking her from
behind. Roughly. Pulling all that long shiny hair.
My heart pounded watching her walk away.
Then I glanced down at her test and there in the upper corner of
the page.
Call me... And ten glorious digits followed.
Game. On.
 Emmaline
MY HEART POUNDED WALKING to my car. I’d just given one of my
professors my phone number. For all I knew, he never noticed me in
any kind of sexual way. Dr. Walker Rhodes rivaled the gods on
Olympus. I’d never seen a more beautiful man. In Texas, that was
an accomplishment.
All of my professors were doctors, sweet older men, but they
smelled like mothballs. Dr. Rhodes stood out with his plaid shirts
buttoned down just enough to give me a taste of what was
underneath. Rugged acid-washed jeans, tight in all the right places,
and just a hint of musk cologne told me he wanted to be noticed in
the classroom or the lab. I could only imagine how many women he
bedded every month. I didn’t care if I was just another notch on his
bedpost.
In a few weeks, I’d be moving to Kentucky. I’d been waiting to
hear about an internship at Darnell Acres, a top horse farm in
Lexington. My adviser had kept me on pins and needles. As far as I
knew, I was the only woman who applied, so I figured I was a shoo-
in.
I surprised myself when I made it back home in one piece since
all I’d seen were visions of Walker, unbuttoning one of his shirts
showing off what I knew had to be a torso of roped stomach
muscles. Taking care of ranch livestock was tough work.
“How did it go?” my roommate, Grace, asked me when I floated
into the kitchen from the back door. She was my landlady technically
since I rented a room in her house. But she became more of a friend
these past three years.
“I nailed it.” I dumped my school bag on the blue denim living
room sofa.
“You put stuff in horses’ butts,” her five-year-old son, Owen,
guffawed a laugh at me.
I still regretted sharing that information. Owen was at the age
where he liked to repeat stuff. The horse butt comment was in his
top five. He was too adorable for words.
“Careful, she’ll put something in your butt.” Grace stood from her
dining room table where she usually worked with her laptop. Passing
him, she devoured Owen with kisses.
“No!” he shouted and started shucking pieces from the puzzle
he’d been working on for a couple of weeks.
I pulled up a chair on the far side of the dining room table right
outside the kitchen. “Can I work on this part again, Owen?”
He didn’t answer, but stopped sending puzzle pieces to the floor.
I slowly fingered a few, waiting for his reaction. Some days he let
me, some days he screamed bloody murder. Grace worked as a
property manager for Delsey Mackenzie, who owned half of Wild
Heart, Texas. I’d never met her, but she was a beautiful and
powerful cosmetics CEO. Grace also said Delsey was very down to
earth and generous. Just didn’t get home to Wild Heart too often.
“Sweet tea?” Grace asked from her classic country kitchen with
white-washed cabinets and blue-tiled countertops.
“Love some.” Part of my understanding with Grace was to look
after Owen whenever she had a meeting with one of Delsey’s
tenants and couldn’t bring him.
“I gave Walker my phone number,” I said to Grace when she
handed me a crackled glass filled with liquid diabetes.
“Really?” Grace lowered into a dining room chair closer to Owen.
“And?”
I took my phone out of my back pocket. “Nothing yet. It’s
possible he won’t call. I’m a student.”
Grace scoffed. “I give Walker credit for...” She glanced at Owen
and whispered, “Not jumping you.”
Grace grew up in Wild Heart, a typical small town with three
thousand busy bodies, all up in everyone’s business. Owen’s daddy
wasn’t in the picture, leaving me to eye everyone in town with
suspicion and looking for the same ice-blue eyes as Owen. As my
obsession with Walker grew, I’d asked Grace if Walker was the
daddy.
My chest had loosened when she’d said no, although there was
something else she’d been dying to say. But never did.
Plus, Walker Rhodes didn’t strike me as a man who’d shirk his
obligations like that. The men of Wild Heart were heroes on steroids.
Every town had bad boys, and Walker sure dressed like one, leather
gloves, heavy jeans, and kept a rope around his broad beautiful
chest in the barn in case a horse spiked a fever and needed to be
wrangled into the stocks for a temperature check.
I’d let myself get all crazy about him, and I just wanted one wild
bang before I left for Kentucky. Which I suspected would be any day.
My phone rang, and I jumped, sending several puzzle pieces to
the floor. Grace quickly scooped them up before Owen freaked out.
Eyeing the number on my screen, my heart pounded, realizing it
was a Tatum Veterinary College exchange. Would Walker call me
from his office there? Ask a student out on the college’s network?
Talk dirty to me from an office phone?
“Hello?” I answered, sounding lusty anyway.
“Emmaline, it’s Steven Harking.”
Clearing my throat, I said, “Hi, Mr. Harking. Is everything all
right?” My advisor usually emailed me. Hearing his voice and not
Walker’s felt like a bucket of cold water got thrown at me.
“Unfortunately, Emmaline, we could not secure you an internship
at Darnell.”
My heart tumbled in my chest. I hadn’t even looked for a job in
Wild Heart, figuring my internship would land me a spot on Darnell’s
medical staff. If not them, then any of the large animal veterinarian
practices in the Bluegrass.
“Okay. That’s...” I didn’t want to go home to Chicago to treat
kittens and spoiled apartment-raised teacup poodles.
Now I had no post-graduate internship and no job. Money was
getting tight. My father managed a hedge fund at the Mercantile
Exchange and my mother spent her days in the spa. They’d support
me forever, but only if I moved back home.
“I have another option in the works, but I don’t want to say
anything until it’s secure. I promise if it’s a go, you’ll get the spot.”
“I need post-grad intern credits for my license, Mr. Harking.”
“Hang tight, Emmaline. So long as your grades stay consistent,
you’ll be our salutatorian. We’ll help you land you a good internship.”
I understood my gender worked against me. Treating large
animals like horses and cattle required not just brains, but brute
strength. “Okay, Mr. Harking. Thanks anyway about Darnell and I
look forward to hearing from you.”
“What happened?” Grace asked me, sipping her tea, one eye
always on Owen.
“Looks like you have me for a little while longer.”
“I wish you’d consider a practice around here.” She meant
Walker’s practice, but I had a feeling he’d keep his distance even
more if I worked for him. The man barely looked me in the eye all
semester.
“Most are for small animals.” I sighed and watched the
condensation drip down my glass of tea, imagining the beads of
sweat pouring down Walker’s thickly corded throat on a hot
summer’s day. I really hoped he called. A little fling with him would
allow me to stop fantasizing about him. “Darnell is best for me and
my goals.”
I’d spent the last year scouring their website, marveling at the
beauty of the place. Watching promo videos, all the stallions and
broodmares stabled there. Adorable weanlings who would grow to
be strong, healthy champions.
My phone rang again, and my brain screwed with me, making me
think it was Mr. Harking calling back. Saying it was all a joke. Or a
misunderstanding. Darnell’s waiting for you.
A Wild Heart number came up this time. “Hello?”
“Emmaline?” Walker Rhodes’s voice stilled me, and I had to
remind myself to breathe.
“Yeah. It’s Emma.” I played it cool as best I could for someone
having a heart attack.
“It’s Pro... Walker Rhodes. From Tatum?” Like he had to clarify.
“Hello, Dr. Rhodes.” I am so calling you Doctor in bed.
After Mr. Harking’s horrible news, I needed to go mindless with
the kind of pleasure a man like six-foot-something, broad and
weathered Walker Rhodes showed a woman.
“There was a message on your test paper. And I was wondering
if it were meant for me. Or if you had intended that for someone
else in class?”
 A sudden shyness swept through me. “That was for you.” Now I
worried Walker was the kind of man who didn’t want overly
aggressive women. “I hope that wasn’t too forward of me.”
“Not too forward at all. Just so we’re clear. Did I read all your
paperwork correctly on the school’s computers? That was your last
class? You’re graduating, right?”
“Mr. Harking just called me and said I’ll probably be the
salutatorian.”
“Congratulations, I’m not surprised. You were an excellent
student and I know you’ll make a great doctor.” He cleared his
throat. “I’ll be at the graduation ceremony on Sunday.”
“I guess I’ll have to write a speech.” And consider he’d be
watching me.
“I can’t wait to hear it.” The want in his voice came through my
cell phone. “Are your parents coming into town this weekend for the
ceremony?”
“No. My father’s flying to Japan to meet with investors, and my
mother doesn’t travel without him.”
“Really? I’m sorry. This is a huge accomplishment. That
su...stinks that you won’t have anyone with you.”
“My landlady and her son are coming.” I smiled at Grace.
“Landlady?”
I laughed. “She’s really a friend. I’ve been renting a room in
Grace Westbrook’s house.”
“I see. So, Emmaline... You gave me your number and told me to
call you. After graduation, can I take you out? Seeing that you won’t
have any family in town.”
I hesitated since Grace wanted to share that night with me, too.
And Owen. But that meant a very quick ice cream cone in town since
Owen and restaurants weren’t a good combination. “I have plans
with Grace and Owen right after. But...later?”
Later, as in after dark. Under the stars. In a barn somewhere. I
hadn’t had sex in forever and needed Walker to bring me back to
life.
“That’s a date, Emmaline. Call me back on this number when
you’re free on Sunday.”
 “Oh, I will. Goodbye, Dr. Rhodes.”
“What’s going on?” Grace asked me.
“After graduation, I got me a date with the most beautiful man
on the planet.” I twirled around and Owen looked up. Next, he was
dancing on his chair, mimicking me.
Grace jumped up to plant his little butt back in the seat. “I’m
happy for you. Make sure you bring protection. I had me one of
those dates, and now I have...” She kissed Owen, sweetly.
My heart went out for Grace, raising Owen all by herself. Maybe it
wasn’t so bad to do an internship in Wild Heart at one of the horse
ranches like Sutherland Farms or Renner Ranch.
If I stuck around, maybe Dr. Rhodes would be down for a little
summer fling instead of a one-night stand.
Either way, I was moving to Kentucky. I’d camp out in a Darnell
outhouse until someone hired me.
 Chapter Two

Emmaline

I
wouldn’t have been so nervous giving my speech, but Walker
sitting on the dais watching me made it hard to keep the
quivering out of my voice. His gunmetal blue eyes felt like liquid fire
licking at my bare legs. Under my graduation robe, I wore a short
black dress with a corset top and saddle leather stitching. I wore my
cowboy boots on my feet because this was Texas after all. And did
panties because good southern girls didn’t go commando. When in
Rome...
The Texas sun sizzled against my skin and it was only May. Beads
of sweat trickled down my back as I dished out my twenty-
something brilliance.
Or maybe my body heated up because of Walker.
I wrapped up with, “So, I bid you all good luck. As a city slicker
with toy poodles waiting for me back home, I’m like most of ya’ll. I
can’t wait to get my hands on a well-hung stallion in need of a
broodmare and a mating shed.” That got some laughs, so I ended
my speech with a clacking against my inner cheek used to call
horses, and poor Walker’s golden skin went pale.
That cowboy didn’t know what he was getting into with me, did
he?
“That was a great speech,” Grace said, smirking at me when I
found her in the crowd.
“Thank you.” I posed with her and Owen for a selfie under one of
the many oak trees spread across the quad of Tatum Veterinary
College. The dappled sunlight streaking through the branches made
everything glow.
Or maybe that was Walker watching me from a distance.
The beautiful day kept my gaze lingering on the campus grounds
for a few extra minutes. My heart swelled, realizing I would miss this
place and the town.
 My phone rang, and I answered it with mixed emotions. “Hi,
Mom. I got your flowers. Thank you.” While my fellow students were
busy being smothered by adoring parents, I had received a bouquet
of flowers from my mother, the etiquette queen. “I got Dad’s text.”
My father’s message arrived at three a.m. because of the time
difference between Texas and Japan.
“Does this mean you’re coming home soon?” Mom pretended like
we never had my post-graduation-plans conversation.
“I told you, I’m waiting to hear from Darnell.” I lied, mostly
because I was still in denial. And waiting for a miracle.
“And what’s that again, dear?”
Ugh. “The prestigious horse breeding farm in Lexington,
Kentucky. Where I want to do a graduate internship for my license.
Where I’d like to work eventually.”
“You want to live in Kentucky?” she shrieked, hurting my ears.
“Permanently?”
“Mother dearest, we had this conversation.”
“I must have blocked out that my Chicago, society-bred daughter
wants to live in Kentucky.”
“Mom, that’s not nice. It’s utterly beautiful there. Yes, city
skylines are breathtaking. So are fireflies under a blanket of stars
and the smell of fresh cut grass.” I stopped when I realized I was
talking about Wild Heart. “Anyway, I—”
“Your father is on the other line. I have to go. Love you.”
I exhaled and put my phone away, doubting my father was
actually on the other line since it was the middle of the night in
Japan. Mom just didn’t want to hear about my dreams if it didn’t
have the word Chicago or the highfalutin suburbs like Winnetka or
Lake Forest in them.
In fairness to my parents, they’d gone all out when I graduated
from Cornell with a double major in Veterinarian Science and
Biology. They paid my college tuition bills in full and sent me a nice
allowance every semester so I didn’t have to get a part-time job.
Now they wanted me to come home which meant the money
trough would get cut off any day.
“Your mom?” Grace said, holding Owen’s hand.
 “Ice cream!” he whined. “I want ice cream.”
“Yeah. At least she called.” My eyes wandered around the quad
looking for Walker, who was hard to miss. Towering above the mortal
men in the crowd. His dark brown cowboy hat made him look taller.
Gold mirrored shades hid those beautiful eyes that I hoped were
undressing me.
But Owen wanted ice cream. And he and Grace were there to
celebrate with me, so they came first. “Let’s hit Main Street and get
this boy some ice cream,” I said, taking his other hand wondering
how it got so sticky.

IN THE OLD-FASHION ice cream parlor with a black-and-white

checkered floor and chrome and red vinyl furniture, Owen lapped up
a chocolate, chocolate-chip ice cream cone. I sipped on a vanilla
shake while Grace settled for a cup of coffee.

Where you at, girl? Walker texted me.

In town, I answered. Ice Cream shop. With Grace and Owen.

Are we still on for later? I’ll come pick you up. Anywhere.

My core sizzled. Anywhere. And I wanted him to take

me...everywhere.
Before I answered, I watched Grace wipe down Owen, who wore
more ice cream than he ate. He was truly adorable. But he was
getting restless, and I didn’t want to wear chocolate ice cream or
have a chip fall between my boobs and have Walker find it later.
“Was that Walker?” Grace asked with a smirk.
My body felt like it’d been on fire, and I assumed a blush had
bloomed across my cheeks.
“There’s no rush,” I dismissed calmly. “He can wait.”
I wasn’t sure I could wait. But Grace and Owen were there for
me on such an important day, I didn’t want to brush them off.
 “Are you coming home tonight?” Grace asked me above a
whisper.
I shrugged. “Not sure. Is Walker an all-night kind of guy?”
“I don’t know,” Grace answered with a long exhale, like despite
walking around as the polished Delsey Mackenzie property manager,
inside the pretense was collapsing from the sheer exhaustion of
taking care of Owen by herself.
I looked forward to Mr. Harking’s Plan-B for me since it meant I’d
stay and help Grace with Owen.
“Mama, can we look at colors?” Owen asked, all sparkly clean
thanks to the package of wipes Grace brought with her everywhere.
Owen loved the yarn store. And Kelly-Lynne the owner often let
him play with clearance bundles.
“Sure, baby,” Grace said and kissed him on the forehead.
“Uck.” He wiped away the kiss.
“Boys,” Grace joked.
We left the ice cream parlor and then on the sidewalk, Owen
gave me a wave since he didn’t let me hug him. I waved back as he
and Grace strolled down Main Street.
I needed to text Walker back, but I felt a searing heat spread
across my back. I spun around and lost my breath.
“What happened to the suit?” I asked Walker about the navy-
blue snazzy duds he wore at the graduation ceremony.
While I’d been dodging getting ice cream flung at me, Walker
must have gone home to change into a pair of tight faded jeans
topped with a fitted blue and yellow plaid shirt, showing off every
bulging muscle in that man’s body. His usual brown hat had been
swapped out with a sharp black one that made him look dangerous.
Underneath, his rumpled golden-brown hair curled behind his ears,
and some strands in the front hung in his eyes. Not a day had
passed without that tawny scruff on his face.
“If I knew what you had under that robe...” His eyes drank me in
and my nipples seized. I skipped a bra since the corset back held my
girls in place and gave me kick-ass cleavage.
“Meaning?” I crossed my arms, propping my boobs up more.
 “You look beautiful. Do you want to get some supper? I’m sure I
can snag us a table at Verity’s.”
My stomach was in knots waiting for this date. I had a small
breakfast and chose the vanilla shake at the ice cream parlor to
settle my stomach. “I’m not very hungry at the moment.”
“How about a drink?” He got damn close and a whiff of musky
cologne surrounded me. “The sun sets so nice this time a year down
by the water.”
“That sounds great. Grace drove me, so I don’t have a ride.”
“Oh, sugar, I can give you a ride.” He flashed a wolfish grin.
“Smooth and slow or rough and fast...however you like.”
The overt flirting thrilled me. I smiled and pulled my purse strap
over my shoulder, all lady like. “Lead the way.”
“My truck’s right this way.”
We strolled in silence until we reached a sparkling black Ram
double cab pickup. When he opened the passenger door for me, I
said, “Um. This is a date, right?”
Walker’s head pitched back. “Did I not make that clear?”
Men didn’t say, can I take you out on a date anymore, so women
sometimes found themselves in a friend zone instead of a
relationship that could lead to a happy ever after.
“Just making sure.” I turned to climb in, but then whipped back
around. “What do I call you?” I’d been calling him Professor and Dr.
Rhodes.
“As of two o’clock, you were no longer a student. So call me
Walker.”
“Walker,” I said, low and throaty. “Call me Emma. My full name is
Emmaline Rose.” I left out that I was named after my grandmother.
“That’s a beautiful name,” he said, and boldly took a wave of my
hair in his hand. “Emmaline Rose.”
All I wanted were those full lips the color of pink rose petals.

Walker
I DON’T DO RELATIONSHIPS, almost fell from my lips, but my date
with Emmaline hadn’t even begun and women acted very differently
when I told them that. I’d be upfront later if this got physical. And I
couldn’t imagine it wouldn’t.
I helped her into my truck and after closing the passenger door, I
took the long way to the driver’s side, skating around the truck bed
to get my thoughts under control. She smelled of vanilla and
imagining what she tasted like distracted the hell out of me.
“Great speech, by the way,” I said to make conversation when I
got in the truck. “But I’m sure you knew that.”
“Thank you. Yeah, I got a few compliments. I wanted to say
something to inspire my fellow students.”
“I think you did that.” I couldn’t keep my eyes off her legs in that
short dress. Damn thing could ruin me. Be my downfall.
When I laid a woman down, I took control of her. The idea of
making Emmaline mindless fueled me. Sinking my cock into her wet
quivering pussy the more times the better.
I swallowed and pushed away those thoughts or I was going to
drive that damn truck into a ditch.
We made small talk until we reached Sleepy State Park, thirty
acres of greenery overlooking the gentle lapping water against a
marshy shoreline. In the east end of the park, food trucks and
mobile bars were set up along the riverbank with twinkling lights.
Walking toward the food trucks, I kept my hand on the small of
her back. The heat of her skin roared through the fabric and I didn’t
think it had anything to do with the eighty-degree late Spring
temperature clinging to Wild Heart.
I sat her at a high-top table facing the water to watch the sun go
down. Her honey-colored hair shimmered with a hint of warmth.
“I’m driving, so I’m only gonna have one drink, a beer. What can I
get you?”
Emmaline leaned forward pushing the swells of her tits further
up. “Whatever you’re having.”
“Be right back.” I swaggered to the bar and got us some drinks.
When a plate of pretzel sticks and dipping sauces passed me, I
ordered that, too. “I know you said you’re not hungry, but I can’t
pass up soft pretzels.”
“I love these,” her throaty growl saying love got me going.
I held up my beer. “To the most beautiful, smartest graduate this
year.” Or ever, but I didn’t want to come off like I was trying too
hard.
Clinking my beer, she said, “Thank you. And I assume you’re
saying that since Jameson got valedictorian.”
“This is a tough field and I admit, I wasn’t sure what to make of
you. How someone so statuesque and poised could deworm a cow.
Your fellow female students fit more of the look that, well, ranch
owners are gonna expect to see roll up on their farm when they call
for a vet. I’m just being honest.”
She pushed her hair off one shoulder. “I know what you’re
saying. If anything, I’ll have more to prove.”
“You won me over quickly enough. Just want you to know what
you’re probably gonna face. Not many women in this field.”
She only nodded, and I worried I had insulted her.
“What are your plans?” I kept talking. “Many grads head off to
Montana, Wyoming, Kentucky.” I thought I caught her flinch when I
said Kentucky.
She studied me and after a long pull on her beer with cherry red
lips that made me forget my question, she said, “I have a
confession.”
Shivers crawled up my spine and not in the good way. “Go on.”
“I’m still assessing my choices. My Plan-A fell through.” She took
another sip and if I knew women, it was to cover up disappointment.
“I see.” My throat tightened wondering if she now planned to
stay in Wild Heart.
Mixed feelings swamped me. I wouldn’t mind a few extra weeks
of getting my fill with her, but then I’d have to break it to her how I
had no plans to get married. Ever. That closed a lot of legs.
“Plus, I help Grace out with Owen. So I get to do a good thing
for a few more weeks.” Emmaline ripped off a piece of pretzel and
dipped it in the avocado ranch dressing.
 Something wasn’t adding up, though. Grace had to know
Emmaline would be moving on. I exhaled wondering if I should pay
Grace Westbrook a visit. See if she needed anything. She got a raw
deal with that no-good sumbitch who left her to raise Owen by
herself. Whoever he was because as far as I knew she never
revealed the daddy. Folks in Wild Heart looked out for each other.
“Do you have a good relationship with your parents?” I asked
Emmaline. “You’re from Chicago, right?”
“Yep. And I do. I guess.”
“You guess?”
“They’re a little detached. In their world, children go off to
boarding school and you talk once a month.”
“You’re kidding? I never would have guessed you went to a
boarding school.” I sat back. “Emmaline Rose, I give you even more
credit for choosing this kind of work. Itain’tpretty and doesn’t always
pay well. Unless...”
“Unless?”
“There are definitely glory spots. Real fancy ranches with rich
owners who could pay well. Keep a large medical staff.”
Her jaw twitched. “I don’t know if I want to wait in line and
examine goats while other vets get to be hands-on with the big
animals.”
I wanted her hands on me, but I still flinched when it happened.
I stared down at five dainty fingers squeezing my thigh. “Sugar,
that’ll speed up where I want this night to go.”
“I hope so.” She licked her lips.
“Teasing me will get you in trouble.” I hovered over her moist
mouth. But then I pulled back. I was still a professor and even
though she had a diploma, my groping her in public could get me in
trouble. “Do you want another beer? More to eat?”
“I’m done. For now,” she said, swiping ranch dressing off her
finger with her tongue, and the visual metaphor destroyed me.
“I think we both have some things we need to get out of our
system.” I helped her off her stool.
We walked to my truck, my hand on her back again. I fought to
be gentle stepping through the parking lot. But when we were both
inside my truck, I lost it. I kissed her, and she opened to me, letting
my tongue plunder into the soft lushness of her warm, sweet mouth.
“I got you in my truck,” I said, my lips sliding down her neck.
“How can I get you in my bed, Emmaline?”
“Drive me to your house.” She took my hand and placed it on her
breast. “I guarantee, I’ll end up in your bed.”
“Emmaline, I’m not boyfriend material,” I blurted, surprising
myself because I usually waited. Something about Emmaline pinched
at my heart, I didn’t want to hurt her.
Instead of looking crushed, she laughed, her body vibrating.
A girly giggle that got me hard, although I didn’t care to be
laughed at. “What’s so funny?”
“Boyfriend sounds so...immature. You’re a man.”
“I’m not the marrying kind of man, either. Has no interest for
me.”
She dragged a breath into her lungs. “I hope to end up at
someplace like Darnell Acres in Kentucky.”
“Damn, girl. Those are big dreams. Good for you.”
“I don’t see my future here in this little town, Walker.” She ran a
finger across my lips and I felt ready to explode. “Can we just have
some fun before I leave?”
“Fun is my middle name, sugar,” I growled.
“Show me just how much fun you are.”
“Hold on.”
We raced to my house, a clapboard colonial behind my practice’s
office, a mile down a rural span of Main Street. In the back, I kept a
moderate sized barn with stables in the event I had to board a sick
horse or cow and needed to keep my eye on the animal. At the
moment, my barn was empty.
That also meant I wasn’t paying one of my vet techs to sleep in a
guest room in the far back of the office. I planned to be very loud
and hoped Emmaline was a screamer.
Another random document with
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both upper and lower radial nervules uniting with the posterior branch of
the subcostal. It has been treated as a moth by several entomologists.
Aurivillius considers that it is certainly a butterfly; but as the
metamorphoses are unknown, we cannot yet form a final opinion as to
this curious form. The extraordinary Peruvian Insect, Styx infernalis, is
also placed in this family by Staudinger; it is a small, pale Insect, almost
white, and with imperfect scales; a little recalling a Satyrid. It appears to
be synthetic to Pieridae and Erycinidae.

Fig. 180—Pupation of the Orange-tip butterfly, Euchloe cardamines. A,

The completed pupa; B, the larva, with its girdle, prepared for the
change.

The caterpillars of Pieridae are perhaps the least remarkable or

attractive of all butterfly-caterpillars; their skins are as a rule bare, or
covered only with fine, short down or hair; their prevalent colour is
green, more or less speckled with black and yellow, and they are
destitute of any prominent peculiarities of external structure. Pupation is
accomplished by the larva fixing itself to some solid body by the
posterior extremity, with the head upwards (or the position may be
horizontal), and then placing a girdle round the middle of the body. The
pupa never hangs down freely as it does in Nymphalidae. It has been
ascertained by experiment that if the girdle round the larva be cut, the
pupation can nevertheless be accomplished by a considerable
proportion of larvae. Some of the pupae are of very peculiar form, as is
the case in the Orange-tip (Fig. 180, A) and Brimstone butterflies. The
Orange-tip butterfly passes nine or ten months of each year as a pupa,
which is variable in colour; perhaps to some extent in conformity with its
surroundings. The North American E. genutia has a similar life-history,
but the larva leaves its Cruciferous food-plant, wanders to an oak tree,
and there turns to a pupa, resembling in colour the bark of the tree.
 Fig. 181—Newly-hatched larva of Euchloe cardamines. A, The larva in
profile; B, one segment more magnified, showing the liquid-bearing
setae; C, one of the setae still more magnified, and without liquid.

It is not unusual for caterpillars to change their habits and appearance

in a definite manner in the course of the larval life. The caterpillar of
Euchloe cardamines exhibits a larval metamorphosis of a well-marked
character. The young larva (Fig. 181) is armed with peculiar setae,
furcate at the tip, each of which bears a tiny ball of fluid. In this stage
the caterpillar makes scarcely any movement. In the middle of the
caterpillar's life a new vestiture appears after an ecdysis; numerous fine
hairs are present, and the fluid-bearing spines nearly disappear, being
reduced to a single series of spines of a comparatively small size on
each side of the upper middle region of the body (Fig. 182). The colour
is also a good deal changed, and concomitantly there is a much greater
voracity and restlessness.

Fig. 182—Larva of Euchloe cardamines in middle life. A, the larva in

profile; B, one segment more magnified.

Fam. 5. Papilionidae.—All the legs well developed. Claws large,

simple, without empodium. Front tibiae with a pad. The metanotum
free, conspicuously exposed between mesonotum and abdomen. This
series of butterflies includes some of the most magnificent of the
members of the Insect world. It is considered by some authorities to be
the highest family of butterflies; and in one very important feature—
sexual differentiation—it certainly is entitled to the rank. There are
about 700 recorded species, the larger portion of which are included in
the genus Papilio. The great variety of form has led to this genus being
divided; the attempts have, however, been partial, with the exception of
an arrangement made by Felder, who adopted 75 sections, and a
recent consideration of the subject by Haase, who arranges Felder's
sections into three sub-genera. Many of the sections have received
names, and are treated by some authors as genera, so that an
unfortunate diversity exists as to the names used for these much-
admired Insects. The genus is distributed all over the world, but is
perhaps nowhere more numerous in species than in South America.

Fig. 183—Ornithoptera (Schoenbergia) paradisea, male. New Guinea. ×

1. (Colours, velvet-black, golden-yellow and green.)

Wallace informs us that the great majority of the species of the Amazon
valley frequent the shady groves of the virgin forest. In many cases the
sexes are extremely different in appearance and habits, and are but
rarely found together in one spot. The genus Ornithoptera is closely
allied to Papilio, and contains some of the most remarkable of
butterflies, the homes of the species being the islands of the Malay
Archipelago, and outlying groups of islands, there being a smaller
number of species in the neighbouring continents. The females are of
great size, and are so excessively different from their consorts of the
other sex, as to arouse in the student a feeling of surprise, and a strong
desire to fathom the mysteries involved.
Fig. 184—Ornithoptera (Schoenbergia) paradisea, female. × 1. (The wings, on the
right side, detached, showing the under surface. Colours, black, white, and gray.)

It would be difficult to surpass the effective coloration of the males in

many of the species of Ornithoptera; they are, too, very diverse in this
respect; O. brookiana is of an intense black colour, with a band of
angular green marks extending the whole length of its wings, while
behind the head there is a broad collar of crimson colour. Perhaps the
most remarkable of all is the O. paradisea, recently discovered in New
Guinea; in this species the sexual disparity reaches its maximum. The
female (Fig. 184) is a large, sombre creature of black, white and grey
colours, but the male (Fig. 183) is brilliant with gold and green, and is
made additionally remarkable by a long tail of unusual form on each
hind wing.

We may anticipate that these extraordinary cases of sexual total

dissimilarity in appearance are accompanied by equally remarkable
habits and physiological phenomena. In the case of O. brookiana the
female is extremely rare, so that the collector, Künstler, could only
obtain fifteen females to a thousand males. According to Mr. Skertchly,
instead of the crowd of males being eager to compete for the females,
the reverse is the case; the female diligently woos the male, who
exhibits a reluctance to coupling. This observer apparently considered
that the "emerald feathers" of the male are a guide or incitement to the
female.[229]

In Africa Ornithoptera is to a certain extent represented by two

extremely remarkable forms, Papilio zalmoxis and P. (Drurya)
antimachus. There are about a dozen other genera of Papilionidae;
most of them contain but few species. Parnassius, however, is rich in
species inhabiting the mountains and elevated plateaus of the northern
hemisphere in both the Old and New Worlds; it is remarkable for the
small amount of scales on the wings, and for the numerous variations
of the species. The female possesses a peculiar pouch at the end of
the body; although only formed during the process of coupling, it has a
special and characteristic form in most of the species. The curious
Indian genus Leptocircus has parts of the front wings transparent, while
the hind pair form long tails. This genus is of interest in that it is said to
connect Papilionidae to some extent with Hesperiidae. The larvae of
this family are remarkable on account of a curious process on the
thoracic segment called an "osmeterium." It is usually retracted, but at
the will of the caterpillar can be everted in the form of a long furcate or
Y-shaped process; there is a gland in the osmeterium, and as a result a
strong odour is emitted when the exstulpation occurs.

The pupation of Papilionidae is similar to that of Pieridae, the pupa

being placed with the head upwards, fixed by the tail, and girt round the
middle. A very curious diversity of pupation occurs in the genus Thais,
in which the pupa is attached by the tail as usual, and—which is quite
exceptional—also by a thread placed at the top of the head. Scudder
thinks there is also a girdle round the middle, but Dr. Chapman inclines
to the view that the thread attaching the head is really the median girdle
slipped upwards. The pupation of Parnassius is exceptional, inasmuch
as, like Satyrides, it is terrestrial, in a slight construction of silk.

Fam. 6. Hesperiidae (Skippers).—Six perfect legs: metanotum not

free, largely covered by the mesonotum. A pad on the front tibia. Claws
short and thick; empodium present. Although this family has been
comparatively neglected by entomologists, upwards of 2000 species
and more than 200 genera are known, and it is not improbable that it
may prove to be as extensive as Nymphalidae. We have already said
that Hesperiidae is generally admitted to be the most distinct of the
butterfly groups. It has been thought by some taxonomists to be allied
to Papilionidae, but this is a mistake. It is undoubtedly more nearly
allied to Heterocera, and when the classification of Lepidoptera is more
advanced, so that the various natural groups placed in that sub-Order
are satisfactorily distinguished, it is probable that Hesperiidae will be
altogether separated from Rhopalocera. We have already mentioned
that E. Reuter considers the Hesperiidae to be phylogenetically
unconnected with Rhopalocera proper; but though quite ready to admit
that he will probably prove correct in this, we think Lepidopterists will
not be willing to recognise the family as a sub-Order equivalent in value
to all Heterocera.

The body is shorter and thicker than it is in most butterflies, and is

pointed at the tip rather than knobbed or bent downwards; the wings
are less ample; the antennae are not truly knobbed, but are thicker
before the actual tip, which is itself pointed and more or less bent
backwards, so that the antennae are somewhat hook-shaped.

In habits as well as structure the family is markedly distinct from

butterflies; the pupation is peculiar, and the name Skipper has been
applied to the perfect Insects, because so many of them indulge in a
brief, jerky flight, instead of the prolonged aerial courses characteristic
of the higher butterflies.

There is great difference among the members of the family, and some
of them possess a very high development of the powers of locomotion,
with a correspondingly perfect structure of the thoracic region, so that,
after inspection of these parts, we can quite believe Wallace's
statement that the larger and strong-bodied kinds are remarkable for
the excessive rapidity of their flight, which, indeed, he was inclined to
consider surpassed that of any other Insects. "The eye cannot follow
them as they dart past; and the air, forcibly divided, gives out a deep
sound louder than that produced by the humming-bird itself. If power of
wing and rapidity of flight could place them in that rank, they should be
considered the most highly organised of butterflies." It was probably to
the genera Pyrrhopyge, Erycides, etc., that Mr. Wallace alluded in the
above remarks. Although the Hesperiidae are not as a rule beautifully
coloured, yet many of these higher forms are most tastefully
ornamented; parts of the wings, wing-fringes, and even the bodies
being set with bright but agreeable colours. We mention these facts
because it is a fashion to attribute a lowly organisation to the family, and
to place it as ancestral to other butterflies. Some of them have
crepuscular habits, but this is also the case with a variety of other
Rhopalocera in the tropics.

In their early stages the Skippers—so far as at present known—depart

considerably from the majority of butterflies, inasmuch as they possess
in both the larval and pupal instars habits of concealment and
retirement. The caterpillars have the body nearly bare, thicker in the
middle, the head free, and more or less notched above. They make
much greater use of silk than other butterfly-larvae do, and draw
together leaves to form caves for concealment, and even make webs
and galleries. Thus the habits are almost those of the Tortricid moths.

Fig. 185—Pupation of Badamia exclamationis. (After Dudgeon. J. Bombay

Soc. x. 1895, p. 144). A, One side of the leaf-cradle, the other
(nearest to the observer) being broken away; B, transverse section
of entire cradle, a, The pupa; b, fastenings of perpendicular threads
round pupa; c, cross thread retaining the leaf in cradle form; d,
margins of the leaf; e, midrib of leaf.

Pupation takes place under similar conditions; and it is interesting to

find that Chapman considers that the pupa in several points of structure
resembles that of the small moths. Not only does the larva draw
together leaves or stalks to make a shelter for the pupa, but it
frequently also forms a rudimentary cocoon. These arrangements are,
however, very variable, and the accounts that have been given indicate
that even the same species may exhibit some amount of variation in its
pupation. Scudder considers that, in the North American Skippers, the
cremaster is attached to a single Y-like thread. In other cases there is a
silk pad on the leaf for the cremaster to hook on. An interesting account
given by Mr. Dudgeon of the pupation of a common Indian Skipper,
Badamia exclamationis, shows that this Insect exercises considerable
ingenuity in the structure of the puparium, and also that the
arrangements it adopts facilitate one of the acts of pupation most
difficult for such pupae as suspend themselves, viz. the hooking the
cremasters on to the pad above them. Badamia uses a rolled-up leaf
(Fig. 185); the edges of the leaf are fastened together by silk at d; from
this spot there descends a thread which, when it reaches the pupa, a,
forks so as to form an inverted Y, and is fastened to the leaf on either
side; the two sides of the leaf are kept together by a cross thread, cc.
Mr. Dudgeon was fortunate enough to observe the act of pupation, and
saw that "although the anal prolegs of the larva were attached to a tuft
or pad of silk in the usual way, and remained so until nearly the whole
skin had been shuffled off, yet when the last segment had to be taken
out, the pupa drew it entirely away from the skin and lifted it over the
empty skin, and by a series of contortions similar to those made by an
Insect in depositing an egg, it soon re-attached its anal segment or
cremaster to the web, throwing away the cast-off skin by wriggling its
body about."

Series II. Heterocera. Moths.

Although Rhopalocera—if exclusion be made of the Hesperiidae—is

probably a natural group, yet this is not the case with Heterocera. The
only definition that can be given of Heterocera is the practical one that
all Lepidoptera that are not butterflies are Heterocera. Numerous
divisions of the Heterocera have been long current, but their limits have
become more and more uncertain, so that at the present time no
divisions of greater value than the family command a recognition at all
general. This is not really a matter of reproach, for it arises from the
desire to recognise only groups that are capable of satisfactory
definition.

Several attempts have recently been made to form a rough forecast of

the future classification of moths. Professor Comstock, struck by some
peculiarities presented by the Hepialidae, Micropterygidae (and
Eriocephalidae), recently proposed to separate them from all other
Lepidoptera as a sub-order Jugatae. Comstock's discrimination in
making this separation met with general approval. The character on
which the group Jugatae is based is, however, comparatively trivial, and
its possession is not sufficient, as pointed out by Packard,[230] to justify
the close association of Hepialidae and Micropterygidae, which, in
certain important respects, are the most dissimilar of moths. The
characters possessed by the two families in common may be
summarised by saying that the wings and wing-bearing segments
remain in a low stage of development. In nearly all other characters the
two families are widely different. Packard has therefore, while accepting
Comstock's separation of the families in question, proposed a different
combination. He considers that Eriocephalidae should be separated
from all others as "Protolepidoptera" or "Lepidoptera Laciniata," while
the whole of the other Lepidoptera, comprised under the term
"Lepidoptera Haustellata," are divided into Palaeolepidoptera
(consisting only of Micropterygidae) and Neolepidoptera, comprising all
Lepidoptera (inclusive of Hepialidae) except the Eriocephalidae and
Micropterygidae. The question is rendered more difficult by the very
close relations that exist between Micropterygidae and a sub-Order,
Trichoptera, of Neuroptera. Dr. Chapman, by a sketch of the
classification of pupae,[231] and Dyar, by one on larval stages,[232] have
made contributions to the subject; but the knowledge of early stages
and metamorphosis is so very imperfect that the last two memoirs can
be considered only as preliminary sketches; as indeed seem to have
been the wishes of the authors themselves.

Simultaneously with the works above alluded to, Mr. Meyrick has
given[233] a new classification of the Order. We allude, in other pages,
to various points in Mr. Meyrick's classification, which is made to appear
more revolutionary than it really is, in consequence of the radical
changes in nomenclature combined with it.

As regards the various aggregates of families that are widely known in

literature by the names Bombyces, Sphinges, Noctuae, Geometres,
Pyrales, we need only remark that they are still regarded as to some
extent natural. Their various limits being the subject of discussion and
at present undecided, the groups are made to appear more uncertain
than is really the case. The group that has to suffer the greatest
changes is the old Bombyces. This series comprises the great majority
of those moths that have diurnal habits. In it there were also included
several groups of moths the larvae of which feed in trunks of trees or in
the stems of plants, such as Cossidae, that will doubtless prove to have
but little connection with the forms with which they were formerly
associated. These groups with aberrant habits are those that give rise
to the greatest difficulties of the taxonomist.

The following key to the families of Heterocera is taken from Sir G. F.

Hampson's recent work, Fauna of British India—Moths.[234] It includes
nearly all the families at present recognised among the larger
Lepidoptera; certain families[235] not mentioned in this key are alluded
to in our subsequent remarks on the families:—

Key to the Families of Moths[236]

N.B.—This table is not simply dichotomic; three contrasted categories are used
in the case of the primary divisions, A, B, C, and the secondary divisions, I,
II, III.

A. Fore wing with nervule 5 coming from the middle of the discocellulars, or
nearer 6 than 4 (Categories I, II, III = 1-18).
I. Frenulum rudimentary. .......... Fam. 38. Epicopeiidae, see p. 418.
II. Frenulum absent (Categories 1-8).
1. Proboscis present, legs with spurs (Cat. 2-5).
2. Hind wing with nervule 8 remote from 7 (Cat. 3 and 4).
 3. Fore wing with nervule 6 and 7 stalked .......... Fam. 39. Uraniidae,
see p. 419.
4. Fore wing with nervules 6 and 7 not stalked .......... Fam. 5.
Ceratocampidae, see p. 375.
5. Hind wing with nervule 8 nearly touching 7 beyond end of cell ..........
Fam. 4. Brahmaeidae, see p. 374.
6. Proboscis absent, legs without spurs (Cat. 7 and 8).
7. Hind wing with one internal nervure .......... Fam. 3. Saturniidae, see
p. 372.
8. Hind wing with two or three internal nervures .......... Fam. 6.
Bombycidae, see p. 375.
III. Frenulum present (Cat. 9-18).
9. Antennae fusiform [spindle-shaped] .......... Fam. 9. Sphingidae, see
p. 380.
10. Antennae not fusiform (Cat. 11-18).
11. Proboscis absent .......... Fam. 7. Eupterotidae, see p. 376.
12. Proboscis present (Cat. 13-18).
13. Hind wing with nervule 8 curved and almost touching 7 after end of
cell; nervure 1a reaching anal angle .......... Fam. 12.
Cymatophoridae, see p. 386.
14. Hind wing with nervule 8 remote from 7 after end of cell (Cat. 15-
18).
15. Tarsi as short as tibia, hairy; stoutly built moths .......... Fam. 11.
Notodontidae,[237] see p. 383.
16. Tarsi long and naked; slightly built moths (Cat. 17 and 18)
17. Fore wing with nervule 7 remote from 8, and generally stalked
with 6 .......... Fam. 40. Epiplemidae, see p. 420.
18. Fore wing with nervule 7 given off from 8; hind wing with
nervure 1a short or absent .......... Fam. 36. Geometridae, see
p. 411.
B. Fore wing with nervule 5 coming from lower angle of cell or nearer 4 than 6
[see figures 161 and 162, pp. 318, 319] (Categories 19-58).
19. Hind wing with more than 8 nervules (Cat. 20, 21).
20. Proboscis absent, no mandibles nor ligula; size not very small ..........
Fam. 23. Hepialidae, see p. 396.
 21. Mandibles, long palpi and ligula present; size very small .......... Fam.
47. Micropterygidae, see p. 435.
22. Hind wing with not more than 8 nervules (Cat. 23-58).
23. Hind wing with nervule 8 remote from 7 after origin of nervules 6 and 7
(Cat. 24-51).
24. Frenulum absent (Cat. 25-29).
25. Hind wing with one internal nervure; nervule 8 with a precostal spur
.......... Fam. 31. Pterothysanidae, see p. 406.
26. Hind wing with two internal nervures (Cat. 27 and 28).
27. Hind wing with a bar between nervules 7 and 8 near the base;
nervure 1a directed to middle of inner margin .......... Fam. 30.
Endromidae, see p. 406.
28. Hind wing with no bar between nervules 7 and 8; nervure 1a
directed to anal angle .......... Fam. 29. Lasiocampidae, see
p. 405.
29. Hind wing with three internal nervures .......... Fam. 21. Arbelidae,
see p. 396.
30. Frenulum present (Cat. 31-51).
31. Hind wing with nervule 8 aborted .......... Fam. 15. Syntomidae,
see p. 388.
32. Hind wing with nervule 8 present (Cat. 33-51).
33. Antennae knobbed .......... Fam. 1. Castniidae, see p. 371.
34. Antennae filiform, or (rarely) dilated a little towards the tip (Cat.
35-51).
35. Fore wing with nervure 1c present (Cat. 36-43).
36. Hind wing with nervule 8 free from the base or connected
with 7 by a bar (Cat. 37-42).
37. Proboscis present .......... Fam. 16. Zygaenidae, see
p. 390.
38. Proboscis absent (Cat. 39-42).
39. Palpi rarely absent; ♀ winged; larvae wood-borers ..........
Fam. 20. Cossidae, see p. 395.
40. Palpi absent; ♀ apterous (Cat. 41, 42).
41. ♀ rarely with legs; ♀ and larvae case-dwellers ..........
Fam. 19. Psychidae, see p. 392.
 42. ♀ and larvae free[238] .......... Fam. 18. Heterogynidae,
see p. 392.
43. Hind wing with nervule 8 anastomosing shortly with 7 ..........
Fam. 26. Limacodidae, see. p. 401.
44. Fore wing with nervure 1c absent (Cat. 45-51).
45. Hind wing with nervule 8 rising out of 7 .......... Fam. 34.
Arctiidae, see p. 408.
46. Hind wing with nervule 8 connected with 7 by a bar, or
touching it near middle of cell (Cat. 47, 48).
47. Palpi with the third joint naked and reaching far above
vertex of head; proboscis present .......... Fam. 33.
Hypsidae, see p. 408.
48. Palpi not reaching above vertex of head; proboscis absent
or very minute .......... Fam. 32. Lymantriidae, see p. 406.
49. Hind wing with nervule 8 anastomosing shortly with 7 near
the base; proboscis well developed (Cat. 50, 51).
50. Antennae more or less thick towards tip .......... Fam. 35.
Agaristidae, see p. 410.
51. Antennae filiform .......... Fam. 37. Noctuidae, see p. 414.
52. Hind wing with nervule 8 curved and nearly or quite touching nervure 7,
or anastomosing with it after origin of nervules 6 and 7 (Cat. 53-58).
53. Hind wing with nervure 1c absent (Cat. 54-57).
54. Hind wing with nervule 8 with a precostal spur .......... Fam. 24.
Callidulidae, see p. 400.
55. Hind wing with nervule 8 with no precostal spur (Cat. 56, 57).
56. Hind wing with nervure 1a absent or very short .......... Fam. 25.
Drepanidae, see p. 400.
57. Hind wing with nervure 1a almost or quite reaching anal angle
.......... Fam. 28. Thyrididae, see p. 404.
58. Hind wing with nervure 1c present .......... Fam. 41. Pyralidae, see
p. 420.
C. Fore wing with 4 nervules arising from the cell at almost even distances
apart (Cat. 59-66).
59. Wings not divided into plumes (Cat. 60-63).
60. Hind wing with nervule 8 coincident with 7 .......... Fam. 13. Sesiidae,
see p. 386.
 61. Hind wing with nervule 8 free (Cat. 62, 63).
62. Fore wing with nervure 1b simple or with a very minute fork at base
.......... Fam. 14. Tinaegeriidae, see p. 387.
63. Fore wing with nervure 1a forming a large fork with 1b at base ..........
Fam. 45. Tineidae, see p. 428.
64. Wings divided into plumes (Cat. 65, 66).
65. Fore wing divided into at most two, hind wing into three plumes ..........
Fam. 42. Pterophoridae, see p. 426.
66. Fore wing and hind wing each divided into three plumes .......... Fam.
43. Alucitidae (= Orneodidae), see p. 426.

Fam. 1. Castniidae.—The Insects of this family combine to a large

extent the characters of butterflies and moths. The antennae are
knobbed or hooked at the tip, there is a large precostal area to the hind
wing. The nervules of the front wing are complex and anastomose so
as to form one or more accessory cells (Fig. 162). This important, but
not extensive, family consists chiefly of forms found in tropical America
and Australia. The diversity of size, form and appearance is very great,
and it is probable that the members of the family will be separated;
indeed, taxonomists are by no means in agreement as to the limits of
the family. The Castniidae are diurnal Insects, and the North American
genus Megathymus is by many considered to belong to the
Rhopalocera. Euschemon rafflesiae (Fig. 186) is extremely like a large
Skipper with long antennae, but has a well-marked frenulum. The
members of the Australian genus Synemon are much smaller, but they
also look like Skippers. Their habits are very like those of the
Hesperiidae; they flit about in the hot sunshine, and when settling after
their brief flights, the fore wings are spread out at right angles to the
body, so as to display the more gaily coloured hind wings; at night, or in
cloudy weather, the Insect rests on blades of grass with the wings
erect, meeting vertically over the back, like a butterfly. Hecatesia,
another Australian genus, is now usually assigned to Agaristidae; its
members look like moths. The male of H. fenestrata is provided with a
sound-producing organ similar to that of the Agaristid genus Aegocera.
 Fig. 186—Euschemon rafflesiae. Australia. (After Doubleday.)

The Castnia of South America are many of them like Nymphalid

butterflies, but exhibit great diversity, and resemble butterflies of several
different divisions of the family.[239]

The species are apparently great, lovers of heat and can tolerate a very
dry atmosphere.[240] The transformations of very few have been
observed; so far as is known the larvae feed in stems; and somewhat
resemble those of Goat-moths or Leopard-moths (Cossidae); the
caterpillar of C. therapon lives in the stems of Brazilian orchids, and as
a consequence has been brought to Europe, and the moth there
disclosed. The pupae are in general structure of the incomplete
character, and have transverse rows of spines, as is the case with other
moths of different families, but having larvae with similar habits.[241]
Castnia eudesmia forms a large cocoon of fragments of vegetable
matter knitted together with silk. These Insects are rare in collections;
they do not ever appear in numbers, and are generally very difficult to
capture.

Fam. 2. Neocastniidae.—The Oriental genus Tascina, formerly placed

in Castniidae has recently been separated by Sir G. Hampson and
associated with Neocastnia nicevillei, from East India, to form this
family. These Insects have the appearance of Nymphalid butterflies.
They differ from Castniidae by the want of a proboscis.

Fam. 3. Saturniidae.—This is a large and varied assemblage of moths;

the larvae construct cocoons; the products of several species being
used as silk. These moths have no frenulum and no proboscis. The
hind wings have a very large shoulder, so that the anterior margin or
costa stretches far forward beneath the front wing, as it does in
butterflies. The antennae of the males are strongly bipectinated and
frequently attain a magnificent development. The family includes some
of the largest and most remarkable forms of the Insect-world,
Coscinocera hercules, inhabiting North Australia, is a huge moth which,
with its expanded wings and the long tails thereof, covers a space of
about 70 square inches. One of the striking features of the family is the
occurrence in numerous forms of remarkable transparent spaces on the
wings; these window-like areas usually occur in the middle of the wing
and form a most remarkable contrast to the rest of the surface, which is
very densely scaled. In Attacus these attain a large size. In other
species, such as the South African Ludia delegorguei, there is a small
letter-like, or symboliform, transparent mark towards the tip of each
front wing. We have at present no clue to the nature or importance of
these remarkable markings. In the genus Automeris, and in other
forms, instead of transparent spaces there are large and staring
ocellate marks or eyes, which are concealed when the Insect is
reposing. In Arceina, Copiopteryx, Eudaemonia and others, the hind
wings are prolonged into very long tails, perhaps exceeding in length
those of any other moths.

Fig. 187—Larva of Attacus atlas, India. A, at end of 1st instar, profile; B,

4th instar, dorsal view; C, full-grown larva, in repose. (After Poujade.)

The cocoons are exceedingly various, ranging from a slight open

network to a dense elaborate structure arranged as in our Emperor
moth; in this latter case an opening is left by the larva for its exit after it
has become a moth, but by an ingenious, chevaux-de-frise work, this
opening is closed against external enemies, though the structure offers
no resistance at all to the escape of the moth. Fabre has recorded
some observations and experiments which seem to show that the
instinct predominating over the formation of the cocoon is not
cognoscent. The Insect, if interfered with, displays a profound stupidity.
Its method is blind perseverance in the customary.[242] The cocoon of
Saturniidae is more often continuous, i.e. entirely closed. Packard says
that Actias luna effects its escape by cutting through the strong cocoon
with an instrument situate at the base of the front wing. Other species
were examined and were found to possess the instrument; but Packard
is convinced that the majority of the species possessing the instrument
do not use it, but escape by emitting a fluid that softens the cocoon and
enables the moth to push itself through.[243] The cocoons of the
species of Ceranchia have a beautiful appearance, like masses of
filagree-work in silver. The pupa in Ceranchia is very peculiar, being
terminated by a long, spine-like process. In Loepa newara the cocoon
is of a green colour and suspended by a stalk; looking like the pod, or
pitcher, of a plant. The silk of the Saturniidae is usually coarse, and is
known as Tusser or Tussore[244] silk.

The larvae of this family are as remarkable as the imagos, being

furnished with spine-bearing tubercles or warts, or long fleshy
processes; the colours are frequently beautiful. The caterpillar of
Attacus atlas (Fig. 187) is pale olive-green and lavender, and has a
peculiar, conspicuous, red mark on each flank close to the clasper.

About seventy genera and several hundred species are already known
of this interesting family. They are widely distributed on the globe,
though there are but few in Australia. Our only British species, the
Emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia, is by no means rare, and its larva is a
beautiful object; bright green with conspicuous tubercles of a rosy, or
yellow, colour. It affects an unusual variety of food-plants, sloe and
heather being favourites; the writer has found it at Wicken flourishing on
the leaves of the yellow water-lily. Although the Emperor moth is one of
the largest of our native Lepidopterous Insects, it is one of the smallest
of the Saturniidae.

The family Hemileucidae of Packard is included at present in

Saturniidae.

Fam. 4. Brahmaeidae.—The species forming the genus Brahmaea

have been placed in various families, and are now treated by Hampson
as a family apart, distinguished from Saturniidae by the presence of a
proboscis. They are magnificent, large moths, of sombre colours, but
with complex patterns on the wings, looking as if intended as designs
for upholstery. About fifteen species are recognised; the geographical
distribution is remarkable; consisting of a comparatively narrow belt
extending across the Old World from Japan to West Africa, including
Asia Minor and the shores of the Caspian Sea. Little has been recorded
as to the life-histories of these Insects. The larva is said to have the
second and third segments swollen and armed with a pair of lateral
spines projecting forwards. A cocoon is not formed.

Fam. 5. Ceratocampidae.—This is a small family. They are fine moths

peculiar to the New World, and known principally by scattered notices in
the works of North American entomologists. Seven genera and about
sixty species are known. The chief genus is Citheronia. Some of the
larvae are remarkable, being armed with large and complex spines. A
cocoon is not formed.

Fam. 6. Bombycidae.—In entomological literature this name has a

very uncertain meaning, as it has been applied to diverse groups; even
at present the name is frequently used for the Lasiocampidae. We
apply it to the inconsiderable family of true silkworm moths. They are
comparatively small and uninteresting Insects in both the larval and
imaginal instars; but the cocoons formed by the well-known silkworm
are of great value, and some other species form similar structures that
are of more or less value for commercial purposes. The silkworm has
been domesticated for an enormous period, and is consequently now
very widely spread over the earth's surface; opinions differ as to its real
home, some thinking it came originally from Northern China, while
others believe Bengal to have been its native habitat. The silkworm is
properly called Bombyx mori, but perhaps it is as often styled Sericaria
mori. Besides being of so great a value in commerce, this Insect has
become an important object of investigation as to anatomy, physiology
and development. Its domestication has probably been accompanied
by a certain amount of change in habits and instincts, the creature
having apparently lost its appreciation of freedom and its power of
flight; it is also said to be helpless in certain respects when placed on
trees in the larval state; but the importance of these points has been
perhaps somewhat exaggerated.[245]

Although the family Bombycidae is very widely distributed in the warmer

regions of the world, it includes only 15 or 20 genera, and none of them
have many species. The Mustiliidae of some entomologists are
included here. Like the Saturniidae, the Bombycidae are destitute of
proboscis and of frenulum to the wings, but they possess two or three
internal nervures on the hind wing instead of the single one existing in
Saturniidae.

Fam. 7. Eupterotidae (Striphnopterygidae of Aurivillius).—This family

has only recently been separated from Lasiocampidae; its members,
however, possess a frenulum; while none is present in the larger family
mentioned. Its limits are still uncertain, but it includes several extremely
interesting forms. The larvae of the European processionary moth,
Cnethocampa processionea, are social in habits; they sometimes occur
in very large numbers, and march in columns of peculiar form, each
band being headed by a leader in front, and the column gradually
becoming broader. It is thought that the leader spins a thread as he
goes on, and that the lateral leaders of the succeeding files fasten the
threads they spin to that of the first individual, and in this way all are
brought into unison. The hairs of these caterpillars are abundant, and
produce great irritation to the skin and mucous membrane of any one
unlucky enough to come into too close contact with the creatures. This
property is, however, not confined to the hairs of the processionary
moths, but is shared to a greater or less extent by the hairs of various
other caterpillars of this division of Lepidoptera. In some cases the
irritation is believed to be due to the form of the hair or spine, which
may be barbed or otherwise peculiar in form. It is also thought that in
some cases a poisonous liquid is contained in the spine.

The larvae of other forms have the habit of forming dense webs, more
or less baglike, for common habitation by a great number of caterpillars,
and they afterwards spin their cocoons inside these receptacles. This
has been ascertained to occur in the case of several species of the
genus Anaphe, as has been described and illustrated by Dr. Fischer,
[246] Lord Walsingham,[247] and Dr. Holland.[248] The structures are
said to be conspicuous objects on trees in some parts of Africa. The
common dwelling of this kind formed by the caterpillars of Hypsoides
radama in Madagascar is said to be several feet in length; but the
structures of most of the other species are of much smaller size.

The larvae of the South American genus Palustra, though hairy like
other Eupterotid caterpillars, are aquatic in their habits, and swim by
coiling themselves and making movements of extension; the hair on the
back is in the form of dense brushes, but at the sides of the body it is
longer and more remote; when the creatures come to the surface—
which is but rarely—the dorsal brushes are quite dry, while the lateral
hairs are wet. The stigmata are extremely small, and the mode of
respiration is not fully known. It was noticed that when taken out of the
water, and walking in the open air, these caterpillars have but little
power of maintaining their equilibrium. They pupate beneath the water
in a singular manner: a first one having formed its cocoon, others come
successively and add theirs to it so as to form a mass.[249] Another
species of Palustra, P. burmeisteri, Berg,[250] is also believed to breathe
by means of air entangled in its long clothing; it comes to the surface
occasionally, to renew the supply; the hairs of the shorter brushes are
each swollen at the extremity, but whether this may be in connexion
with respiration is not known. This species pupates out of the water,
between the leaves of plants.

Dirphia tarquinia is remarkable on account of the great difference of

colour and appearance in the two sexes. In the Australian genus
Marane the abdomen is densely tufted at the extremity with hair of a
different colour.

Fam. 8. Perophoridae.—The moths of the genus Perophora have for

long been an enigma to systematists, and have been placed as
abnormal members of Psychidae or of Drepanidae, but Packard now
treats them as a distinct family. The larvae display no signs of any
social instincts, but, on the contrary, each one forms a little dwelling for
itself. Some twenty species of Perophora are now known; they inhabit a
large part of the New World, extending from Minnesota to Buenos