266 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



other moths, by the wide and turned-up fore-edge of the hind- 

 wings, which projects beyond that of the fore-wings when at rest, 

 and by their caterpillars, which (with few exceptions) are not 

 warty on the back, and are sparingly clothed with short, soft 

 hairs, mostly placed along the sides of the body, and seldom dis- 

 tinctly arranged in spreading clusters or tufts. These moths fly 

 only by night, and both sexes are winged. Their antennae gener- 

 ally bend downwards near the middle, and upwards at the points, 

 are longer than those of the Liparians, but not so widely feathered 

 in the males, and very narrowly feathered beneath in the females. 

 The feelers of some are rather longer than common, and are 

 thrust forward like a beak ; but more often they are very short 

 and small. The tongue, for the most part, is invisible. Their 

 wings cover the back like a steep roof, the under pair, being 

 wider than common, are not entirely covered by the upper wings, 

 but project beyond them at the sides of the body when closed. 

 Their caterpillars live on trees and shrubs, and some kinds herd 

 together in considerable numbers or swarms ; they make their co- 

 coons mostly or entirely of silk. The winged insect is assisted 

 in its attempts to come forth, after its last change, by a reddish 

 colored liquid, which softens the end of its cocoon, and which, as 

 some say, is discharged from its own mouth, or, as others with 

 greater probability assert, escapes from the inside of the chrysalis 

 the moment that the included moth bursts the shell. 



To this group belong the caterpillars that swarm in the un- 

 pruned nurseries and neglected orchards of the slovenly and im- 

 provident husbandman, and hang their many-coated webs upon the 

 wild cherry-trees that are suffered to spring up unchecked by the 

 way-side and encroach upon the borders of our pastures and 

 fields. The eggs, from which they are hatched, are placed 

 around the ends of the branches, forming a wide kind of ring or 

 bracelet, consisting of three or four hundred eggs, in the form of 

 short cylinders standing on their ends close together, and covered 

 with a thick coat of brownish water-proof varnish. The cater- 

 pillars come forth, with the unfolding of the leaves of the apple 

 and cherry tree, during the latter part of April or the beginning of 

 May. The first signs of their activity appear in the formation of 

 a little angular web or tent, somewhat resembling a spider's web, 



