LEPIDOPTERA. 333 



tionally shorter and more obtuse, the white bands are less distinct, 

 and are often entirely wanting, in which case only the whitish 

 spot near the tip remains, the hind-wings are more dusky, and 

 the feelers are gray instead of being white. Specimens, of a 

 rather smaller size, are sometimes found, resembling the figure 

 and description given by Professor Peck, in which the whitish 

 bands and spot are wanting, and there are three interrupted dusky 

 lines across the fore-wings, with an oblique blackish dash near 

 the tip. Perhaps they constitute a different species from that of 

 the true canker-worm moth. Should this be the case, the latter 

 may be called Anisopteryx pometaria, or the Anisopteryx of the 

 orchard, while the former should retain the name originally given 

 to it by Professor Peck. The female is wingless, and its anten- 

 nae are short, slender, and naked. Its body approaches to an 

 oval form, but tapers and is turned up behind. It is dark ash- 

 colored above, and gray beneath. 



It was formerly supposed that the canker-worm moths came 

 out of the ground only in the spring. It is now known that many 

 of them rise in the autumn and in the early part of the winter. 

 In mild and open winters I have seen them in every month from 

 October to March. They begin to make their appearance after 

 the first hard frosts in the autumn, usually towards the end of 

 October, and they continue to come forth, in greater or smaller 

 numbers, according to the mildness or severity of the weather 

 after the frosts have begun. Their general time of rising is in 

 the spring, beginning about the middle of March, but sometimes 

 before, and sometimes after this time ; and they continue to come 

 forth for the space of about three weeks. It has been observed 

 that there are more females than males among those that appear 

 in the autumn and winter, and that the males are most abundant 

 in the spring. The sluggish females instinctively make their way 

 towards the nearest trees, and creep slowly up their trunks. In 

 a few days afterwards they are followed by the winged and active 

 males, which flutter about and accompany them in their ascent, 

 during which the insects pair. Soon after this, the females lay 

 their eggs upon the branches of the trees, placing them on their 

 ends, close together in rows, forming clusters of from sixty to 

 one hundred eggs or more, which is the number usually laid by 



