262 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



shrubs, little slender caterpillars of a bright yellow color, sparingly 

 clothed with long and fine yellow hairs on the sides of the body, 

 and having four short and thick brush-like yellowish tufts on the 

 back, that is on the fourth and three following rings, two long 

 black plumes or pencils extending forwards from the first ring, 

 and a single plume on the top of the eleventh ring. The head, 

 and the two little retractile warts on the ninth and tenth rings are 

 coral red ; there is a narrow black or brownish stripe along the 

 top of the back, and a wider dusky stripe on each side of the 

 body. These pretty caterpillars do not ordinarily herd together, 

 but sometimes our apple-trees are much infested by them, as was 

 the case in the summer of 1828. When they have done eating, 

 they spin their cocoons on the leaves, or on the branches or 

 trunks of the trees, or on fences in the vicinity. The chrysalis 

 is not only beset with little hairs or down, but has three oval clus- 

 ters of branny scales on the back. In about eleven days after the 

 change to the chrysalis is effected, the last transformation follows, 

 and the insects come forth in the adult state, the females wingless, 

 and the males with large ashen-gray wings, crossed by wavy 

 darker bands on the upper pair, on which, moreover, is a small 

 black spot near the tip, and a minute white crescent near the 

 outer hind angle. The body of the male is small and slender, 

 with a row of little tufts along the back, and the wings expand 

 one inch and three eighths. The females are of a lighter gray 

 color than the males, their bodies are very thick, and of an oblong 

 oval shape, and, though seemingly wingless, upon close examina- 

 tion two little scales, or stinted winglets, can be discovered on 

 each shoulder. These females lay their eggs upon the top of 

 their cocoons, and cover them with a large quantity of frothy mat- 

 ter, which on drying becomes white and brittle. Different broods 

 of these insects appear at various times in the course of the sum- 

 mer, but the greater number come to maturity and lay their eggs 

 in the latter part of August, and the beginning of September ; and 

 these eggs are not hatched till the following summer. The name 

 of this moth is Orgyia* leucostigma, the white-marked Orgy i a or 



* This name is derived from a word which signifies to stretch out the hands, 

 and it is applied to t His kind of moth on account of its resting with the fore-legs 



