THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 199 



THE LUNA MOTH (Adias lima). 



BY R. V. ROGERS, KINGSTON, ONT. 



As supplementary to my remarks on this pretty creature in the August 

 number of the Can. Ent., I would say that on June 6th a friend gave me 

 a captured female Luna. For two or three nights I used her as a trap to 

 entangle unwary males, but in vain as far as my cabinet was concerned ; 

 the weather was cold. On the yth, 8th and 9th, during the silent watches 

 of the night, she deposited in her place of confinement, in all, about 100 

 eggs of a dark brown or chocolate color, flattened at the sides, smooth 

 and about .005 of an inch in length ; the sides were of a lighter shade. 

 On the 13th the moth died, having accomplished the end of her exist- 

 ence. On the 20th the first little larvae appeared, having made their 

 escape by eating an oval opening in the end of the shell ; the inner 

 surface of the egg now appeared perfectly white. The caterpillars were 

 about .02 of an inch in length ; head black, greenish on top and yellowish 

 in front ; the body black, with two yellow spots on each segment, and 

 having numerous yellow hairs ; the under part of the body and feet and 

 legs were of a light yellow. Some crawled about with the empty shell on 

 their tails, others carried it as an umbrella over their heads, but the 

 majority seemed to discard it at once. The first day they were in a dark 

 box, and they seemed very restless and would eat nothing ; the next day 

 I put them in a box with a glass cover, and they at once settled down 

 contentedly to their life-long work of eating their daily bread. Others 

 were born on the 20th and 21st. I fed them on elm leaves. On the 

 27th they had grown to over a third of an inch in length, and now the 

 warts upon each segment were apparent, and the little hairs upon them 

 were also visible. 



On the 30th they began to change their skins ; the head and body 

 were now of a light green, with yellow warts on each segment ; the hairs 

 were neither as numerous or as distinct as before ; there were a few dark 

 ones on the front segments. 



On the 4th of July the length of the largest was .45 in.: on the- nth, 

 .6 in.; on the 13th they moulted a second time, and on the 18th they had 

 attained the length of almost an inch. 



