256 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



are deserving of notice, on account of their singularity, and the 

 place that they fill in the order to which they belong. They keep 

 together in companies, side by side, beneath the leaves, their 

 heads all turned towards the edge of the leaf while they are eating, 

 and when at rest they arch up the forepart of the body and bend 

 down the head, which is then completely concealed by long over- 

 hanging tufts of hairs, and if disturbed they jerk their heads and 

 bodies in a very odd way. These harlequin caterpillars have 

 sixteen legs, which, with the head, are black. Their bodies are 

 black also, with a whitish line on each side, and are thickly cov- 

 ered with short tufts of hairs proceeding from little warts. Along 

 the top of the back is a row of short black tufts, and on each side, 

 from the fifth to the tenth ring inclusive, are alternate tufts of 

 orange and of yellow hairs, curving upwards so as nearly to con- 

 ceal the black tufts between them ; below these along the sides of 

 the body is a row of horizontal black tufts ; on the first and sec- 

 ond rings are four long pencil-like black tufts extending over the 

 head, on each side of the third ring is a similar black pencil, and 

 two, which are white, placed in the same manner on the sides of 

 the fourth and of the tenth rings. About the last of August, and 

 during the month of September, these caterpillars leave the milk- 

 weed, disperse, conceal themselves, and make their cocoons, 

 which mostly consist of hairs. The chrysalis is short, almost 

 egg-shaped, being quite blunt and rounded at the hind end, and is 

 covered with little punctures like those on the head of a thimble, 

 only much smaller. The chrysalids are transformed to moths be- 

 tween the middle of June and the beginning of July. These 

 moths, though not so slender as the Callimorphas, arc not so 

 thick and robust as the Arctias, their antennas resemble those of 

 the latter, but are rather longer, the feelers are also longer, and 

 spread apart from each other, and the tongue is but little longer 

 than the head, when unrolled. The wings are rather long, thin, 

 and delicate, of a bluish gray color, paler on the front edge, and 

 without spots; the head, thorax, under-side of the body, and the 

 legs are also gray ; the neck is cream-colored ; the top of the ab- 

 domen bright Indian-yellow, with a row of black spots, and two 

 rows on each side. Jt expands from one inch and three quarters 

 to neatly two inches. This moth was figured and described 



