LEPIDOPTERA 



229 



The handmaid moths, Datana. ■ — Among the more common repre- 

 sentatives of the Notodontida? are certain brown moths that have the 

 fore wings crossed with bars of a different 

 shade (Fig. 399) and that bear on the fore 

 part of the thorax a conspicuous patch of 

 darker color. In most of our species the fore 

 wings are also marked with a dot near the 

 center of the discal cell and a bar on the dis- 

 cal vein. These moths belong to the genus 

 Datana. The common name, handmaid, is a 

 translation of the specific name of our 

 most common species, D. ministra. But as 

 this species is now generally known as the yellow-necked apple-tree worm, 

 and as all of our species are dressed in sober attire as becomes modest 

 servants, we have applied the term handmaid moths to the entire genus. 



The larva? of the handmaid moths are easily recognized by their 

 peculiar habits. They are common on various fruit and forest-trees, but 

 especially on apple, oak, and hickory. 



They feed in colonies; and have the habit of assuming the curious 

 attitude shown in Figure 400. The body is black or reddish, marked 

 with lines or stripes of yellow or white. Owing to the gregarious habits 

 of these larva? they can be easily collected from the trees they infest. 



Fig. 3gg. — Datana ministra. 



Fig. 400. — Datana, larva. 



All the species that we have studied agree in being single-brooded, 

 the moths appearing in midsummer; the eggs are laid in a cluster on a 

 leaf; the larva? are conspicuous in August and September. In some of 



the species the larva? have the curious habit 



of leaving the branch upon which they are 



feeding when the time to molt arrives, the 



whole colony gathering in a large mass on 



the trunk of the tree, where the molt takes 



place. The pupa state is passed in the 



ground, in a very light cocoon or in none at 



all, and lasts about nine months in the 



species that we have bred. 



The white-tipped moth, Symmerista albifrons. — This beautiful moth, 



which is quite common, can be easily recognized by the accompanying 



figure (Fig. 401); the white patch, which extends along the costa of the 



Fig. 401. — Symmerista albifrons. 



