LEPIDOPTERA. 253 



weeks ; but Mr. Abbot* states that a caterpillar of this kind, 

 which made its cocoon in Georgia on the twenty-fourth of June, 

 was transformed to a moth on the fifth of July, having remained 

 only eleven days in the chrysalis state. The moth is the Arctia 

 Isabella, or Isabella tiger-moth, and it differs essentially from 

 those which have been described, in the antennae, which are not 

 feathered, but are merely covered on the under-side with a few 

 fine and short hairs, and even these are found only in the males. 

 Its color is a dull grayish tawny yellow ; there are a few black 

 dots on the wings, and the hinder pair are frequently tinged with 

 orange-red ; on the top of the back is a row of about six black 

 dots, and on each side of the body a similar row of dots. The 

 wings expand from two inches to two inches and three eighths. 

 The specific name, which was first given to this moth by Sir 

 James Edward Smith, is expressive of its peculiar shade of 

 yellow. 



We have a much smaller tiger-moth, with naked antennas like 

 those of the Isabella. Its wings are so thinly covered with 

 scales as to be almost transparent. It has not yet been described, 

 and it may be called the ruddle tiger-moth, Arctia rubricosa. Its 

 fore-wings are reddish brown, with a small black spot near the 

 middle of each ; its hind-wings are dusky, becoming blacker be- 

 hind (more rarely red, with a broad blackish border behind), with 

 two black dots near the middle, the inner margin next to the body, 

 and the fringe, of a red color ; the thorax is reddish brown ; and 

 the abdomen is cinnabar-red, with a row of black dots on the top, 

 and another row on each side. It expands about one inch and 

 one quarter. This moth is rare ; and it appears here in July and 

 August. It closely resembles the ruby tiger-moth, Arctia fuligi- 

 nosa, of Europe, the wings of which are not so transparent, and 

 have two black dots on each of them, with a distinct row of larger 

 black spots around the outer margin of the hind pair. The 

 caterpillar of our moth is unknown to me ; it will probably be 

 found to resemble that of the ruby-tiger, which is blackish, and 

 thickly covered with reddish brown or reddish gray hairs. It eats 

 the leaves of plantain, dock, and of various other herbaceous 



* Insects of Georgia, page 131, plate 6G. 



