116 



Ohio Naturalist. 



[Vol. 1, No. 7 



THE PROMETHEA MOTH, CALLOSAMIA PROMETHEA. 



Herbert Osborn. 



This beautiful moth is one of the rather common species belong- 

 ing to the group of silkmaking Lepidoptera. The moths appear in 

 May or June. Tlie female is light rusty brown and drab with a 

 darker area across the middle of the wings, while the males are 

 much darker, nearly black, and differ further from the females in 

 the shape of the wings and markings as shown in the figures. 





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Fig. 1. Callosamia promethea, female. (H. O. ad. nat. 1880.) 



The eggs are laid in early summer almost immediately after 

 pairing, and hatch in course of a few days, the larvae growing through 

 the summer. The cpcoons are hung to twigs of trees by a silken 

 cord, and quite often a leaf is utilized as the outer covering within 

 which the elongate oval cocoon is built. In any case the cocoon 

 bears resemblance to a withered curled leaf hanging by its petiole. 

 In this manner cocoons hang xx^ow the trees through the winter. 



They are found most commonly on wild cherry, this being ap- 

 parently the favorite food plant of the larva. They feed however 

 on a large number of common trees and shrubs. 



