1895.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 275 



tree to the ground to construct their cocoons. The only food- 

 plant of angulifera that I am acquainted with is the tulip poplar, 

 and under this tree I have found hundreds of angulifera cocoons, 

 the position of the cocoon in every case showing conclusively 

 that the larvae had descended the tree and spun their cocoons 

 where I found them. In the majority of cases more or less grass 

 was fastened to the cocoon, and then again the cocoon would be 

 found fastened against an old log or stone. In no case was there 

 a pedicel of silk attached to the cocoon, in fact the cocoon of 

 angulifera does not in any way resemble that of its near relative 

 promethea but approaches more to that of Actias luna. 



From time to time I have seen it stated that the cocoon of an- 

 gulifcra was suspended in the same manner as promethea. Some 

 years ago, before I was as well acquainted with the life-histories 

 of our large Saturniidae as I am to-day, I made a test-case: I 

 gathered all the cocoons found suspended on the tulip poplar 

 tree, several hundred in number, and when the imago emerged 

 all proved to be promethea. Actias luna has the same habits as 

 angulifera, and the only cocoon I ever found suspended above 

 the ground, and attached to a leaf, is now in my collection, kept 

 as a curiosity, and bears the following label: " This cocoon found 

 attached to an oak leaf about four feet above the ground, col- 

 lected at Germantown, Pa., Feb., 1891." I have tried time and 

 again to find the cocoon of Actias luna suspended up among the 

 leaves, but the foregoing is the only instance that has come under 

 my observation. One of the best places to find luna cocoons, as 

 every Philadelphia collector knows, is down around the base of 

 the tree, particularly so if there is any grass or rubbish around 

 the tree. I have found as many as five or six cocoons around 

 the base of one tree when the conditions were as above stated. 



This habit of spinning the cocoon at the base of the tree is 

 more strongly developed in luna than in angu/ifera, the latter 

 generally being found some distance from the tree, anywhere 

 (mm five to twenty feet or more. 



The specimens of cocoons figured are from the collection of 

 Philip Laurent and Dr. Henry Skinner. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIII. 

 Figs, i, 2 and 3, Actias /Hint. 



4, 5 and 6, Cal/osainia an^iilifcni. 

 " 7, 8, 9 and 10, Cal/osainia f>roinctlu\i. 



