Entomological Notes. 277 



One point of difference beween the two is the fact that the 

 forest variety prefers the foliage of forest trees to those of the 

 orchard, but like their orchard cousins, they will devour both, 

 where forage is scarce, or the orchard lies in their track. 



Mr. Harris describes the caterpillar as " reaching its full size 

 about the 20th of June, when it measures about two inches in 

 length; there area few short yellow hairs scattered over its body, 

 particularly on the side, where they are the thickest. The general 

 color of the whole body is light blue, clear on the/ back and greenish 

 on the side; the head is blue and without spots; there are two yel- 

 low spots and four black dots on the top of the first ring ; along 

 the top of the back is a row of eleven oval, white spots, beginning 

 on the second ring, and two small, elevated, black and hairy dots on 

 each ring, except the eleventh, which has only one of large size; 

 on each side of the back is a reddish stripe, bordered by slender 

 black lines, and lower down on each side is another stripe of yellow 

 color, between two black lines; the underside of the body is blue- 

 black." 



On first hatching out they spin a company web, but it is placed 

 against the body of the tree or on the underside of some of the 

 large branches, instead of the forks of the small limbs. They are 

 gregarious in their habits, more so than the orchard species, clus- 

 tering together in communities of three or four hundred each, 

 where they often lie for hours together, especially at the time of 

 moulting. There are four of these periods; the first occurring 

 when the caterpillars are about two weeks old, and the others at 

 intervals of nearly a week each. Frequently at the last moulting 

 time they come down on the body of the tree near the ground, 

 where they are easily reached and destroyed. At maturity they 

 scatter in search of a place to pass the chrysalis state, sometimes 

 drawing the leaves together and spinning their cocoons under their 

 shelter. These cocoons resemble those of the common tent cater- 

 pillar. In about two weeks the moths appear, the female nearly 

 twice the size of the male; the color is a reddish brown, being of 

 a little lighter shade than those of the Americana; the parallel 

 oblique lines on the fore wings are, however, dark rather than 

 light, and the portion of the wings enclosed by them is usually 

 much darker in color than the other sections. They lay their eggs 

 in circular bands on the twigs of the trees, gluing them together 



