308 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



ping whole branches of their leaves, and not unfrequently despoil- 

 ing our rose-bushes and thorn hedges also. These caterpillars 

 are of two kinds, very different in appearance, but alike in habits 

 and destructive propensities. The first of these may be called 

 the red-humped, a name that will probably bring these insects to 

 the remembrance of those persons who have ever observed them. 

 Different broods make their appearance at various times during 

 August and September. The eggs, from which they proceed, 

 are laid, in the course of the month of July, in clusters on the 

 under-side of a leaf, generally near the end of a branch. When 

 first hatched they eat only the substance of the under-side of the 

 leaf, leaving the skin of the upper side and all the veins un- 

 touched ; but as they grow larger and stronger they devour whole 

 leaves from the point to the stalk, and go from leaf to leaf down 

 the twigs and branches. The young caterpillars are lighter colored 

 than the old ones, which are yellowish brown, paler on the sides, 

 and longitudinally striped with slender black lines ; the head is 

 red ; on the top of the fourth ring there is a bunch or hump, also 

 of a red color ; along the back are several short black prickles ; 

 and the hinder extremity tapers somewhat, and is always elevated 

 at an angle with the rest of the body, when the insect is not 

 crawling. The full-grown caterpillars measure one inch and a 

 quarter, or rather more, in length. They rest close together on 

 the twigs, when not eating, and sometimes entirely cover the 

 small twigs and ends of the branches. The early broods come 

 to their growth and leave the trees by the middle of August, and 

 the others between this time and the latter part of September. 

 All the caterpillars of the same brood descend at one time, and 

 disappear in the night. They conceal themselves under leaves, 

 or just beneath the surface of the soil, and make their cocoons, 

 which resemble those of the unicorn Notodonta. They remain a 

 long time in their cocoons before changing to chrysalids, and are 

 transformed to moths towards the end of June or the beginning of 

 July. Mr. Abbot* states that in Georgia these insects breed 

 twice a year, the first broods making their cocoons towards the 

 end of May, and appearing in the winged form fifteen days after- 



" " Insects of Georgia," p. 109, pi fco. 



