%k diaimbian ^ntamokpt. 



'J 



VOL. XIV. LONDON, ONT., DECEMBER, 1882. 



No. 12 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. 



T/fE POPLAR DAGGER-MOTH—Acronycta lepusculina, Guenee. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



The caterpillat of this moth is often very destructive to poplar trees, 



and more especially to the foliage of the cottonwood tree in the west. It 



is, when full grown, an inch and a half or more in length, with a black 



head, and its body clothed 

 with long, soft yellow hairs, 

 from amongst which arise 

 along the back five long 

 pencils of black hairs. 

 When at rest it curls itself 

 up on the leaf as shown in 

 figure 22. 



When full grown the 

 caterpillar spins a pale yel- 

 low cocoon of silk inter- 

 woven with its own hairs, 

 hidden in some sheltered 

 spot, and there changes to 



a dark brown chrysalis, from which in due time the moth appears. 



The perfect insect measures when its wings are expanded about an 



inch and three-quarters across, see 



figure 23. Its wings are gray varied 



with dark brown dots and spots and 



shadings Near the hinder angle of 



the front wings is a rather conspicuous 



spot not very distinctly shown in the 



figure, resembling the Greek letter psi 



placed sidewise. ^ There are two broods ^'^- -•^' *^*'"' ""'•^■ 



of this insect during the year ; the moths of the first appear in June, 



deposit eggs which produce larvae that reach their full growth, pass through 



Fi<r. -11. after Riley. 



