LEPIDOPTERA. 275 



was mistaken for a cankered spot on the bark*. It was said to 

 have measured two inches and a half in length, but when it came 

 into my hands it had spun itself up in its cocoon. A caterpillar 

 of the same kind, found also on an apple-tree, has been described 

 by Miss Dix in Professor Silliman's "Journal of Science."! 

 This observing lady states, that "when at rest the resemblance of 

 its upper surface was so exact with the young bark of the branch 

 on which it was fixed, that its presence might have escaped the 

 most accurate investigation ; and this deception was the more 

 complete from the unusual shape of the caterpillar, which might 

 be likened to the external third of a cylinder. The sides of the 

 body were cloaked and fringed with hairs. It was of a pale sea- 

 green color above, marked with ash, blended into white ; and be- 

 neath of a brilliant orange, spotted with vivid black. When in 

 motion its whole appearance was changed, it extended to the 

 length of two inches, and two thirds of an inch in breadth, its 

 colors brightened, and a transverse opening was disclosed on the 

 back, two thirds of an inch from the head, of a most rich velvet 

 black color. It was sluggish and motionless during the day, and 

 active only at night." Mr. Abbot found the caterpillar of the 

 Velleda lappet-moth on the willow-oak, and on the persimmon ; 

 and, in his figure, it is represented of a dark ashen gray color, 

 with a velvet-like black band across the upper part of the third 

 ring!. The cocoon of the specimen sent to me by Mr. Fessen- 

 den, resembled grocers' soft brownish gray paper in color and 

 texture, with a very few blackish hairs interwoven with the silk of 

 which it was made. It was an inch and a half long, and half an 

 inch wide, bordered on all sides by a loose web, which made it 

 seem of larger dimensions ; its shape was oval, convex above, 

 and perfectly flat and very thin on the under-side. The moth 

 came forth from this cocoon on the fifteenth of September, or 

 about forty days after the cocoon was spun. 



The Chinese silk-worm and its moth, Bombyx mori, the 

 Bombyx of the mulberry, should follow these insects in a natural 

 arrangement ; for the former is slightly hairy when first hatched 



* See " New England Farmer," Vol. VII., p. 33. 



t Vol. XIX., pp. 62 and 63. } " Insects of Georgia," p. 103, pi. 52. 



