LEPIDOPTERA. 317 



bristle-formed antennas, and the thorax is not crested. Their 

 fore-wings are generally light gray with dark spots, and in many 

 are marked with a character resembling the Greek letter y near 

 the inner hind angle. Of those that want this character on the 

 fore-wings, the largest American species, known to me, may be 

 called Apatela Americana, which has been mistaken* for Apatela 

 Aceris, the maple-moth of Europe. Its body and fore-wings are 

 light gray ; on the latter there is a wavy, scalloped white line 

 edged externally with black near the outer hind margin, and the 

 usual round and kidney-shaped spots are also edged with black ; 

 the hind-wings are dark gray in the male, blackish in the female, 

 with a faintly marked black curved band and central semicircular 

 spot ; all the wings are whitish and shining beneath, with a black 

 wavy and curved band and central semicircular spot on each ; the 

 fringes are white, scalloped, and spotted with black. It expands 

 from two inches and a quarter to two inches and a half, or more. 

 This kind of moth flies only at night, and makes its appearance 

 between the middle and the end of July. The caterpillar eats 

 the leaves of the various kinds of maple, and sometimes also those 

 of the elm and chestnut. It is one of the largest kinds ; and, early 

 in October, when it arrives at maturity, measures from one inch 

 and three quarters to two inches or more in length. It is of a 

 greenish yellow color above, with the head, tail, belly, and feet, 

 black ; its body is covered with long and soft yellow hairs, grow- 

 ing immediately from the skin ; on the top of the fourth ring there 

 are two long, slender, and erect tufts of black hairs, two more 

 on the sixth ring, and a single pencil on the eleventh ring.f 

 When about to make its cocoon it creeps into chinks of the bark, 

 or into cracks in fences, and spins a loose, half-oval web of silk, 



* See Phalcena Aceris, Smith, in Abbot's " Insects of Georgia," p. 185, pi. 93. 



t Those naturalists, who are familiar with the appearance of the European 

 caterpillar of Apatela Jlceris, will perceive the great and essential difference be- 

 tween it and that of our American Apatela, which bears about as much resem- 

 blance to the former as does that of Astasia torrefacta, of Sir J. E. Smith an 

 insect apparently belonging to the Notodontians, and near to Clostera and Pyo-ara. 

 Apatela signifies deceptive ; and this name was probably given to the genus be- 

 cause the caterpillars appear in the dress of Arctians and Lipaiians, but produce 

 true owlet-moths or Noctuas. 



