MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 215 



(Inrsnl line are seven wavy black lines alternating witli white ones, so tliat tlie caterpillar is very 

 coMspieiumsly banded and spotted. The small blaek tnbercles on the side of the body all bear a 

 single hair. The anal legs are normal, about a third smaller tlian the other abdominal legs, and 

 with numerous hooks. The end of the body is often u|)lifted. 



Until we know more of the exact structure and markings of the hrst stage, it would be 

 premature to attempt to recapitulate tlie leading points in the ontogeny of this curious larva. 



What we have taken to belong to the second stage of concinnn, and whose exact coloration 

 vre failed to note when collected, shows that even probably when liatched from the egg the larva 

 is provided with its full comiilcnient of spines, and even more, there being two on the head, which 

 are lost in the last stage. Without specimens of all the other species for comparison, we can not 

 properly interpret the nature of the singular ornamentation, so unlike that of any other 

 Notodontian of the American or Euro])ean fauna. 



To recapitulate, it is to be noticed that: 



1. The head is deep dull amber in Stage II, becoming black in Stages III and IV, and deep 

 coral-red in the last stage. The head is angular or squarish in Stages II-IV, bearing on the 

 vertex a pair of tubercles whicli disap])ear at the final molt. Of what use tlicse tubercles are in 

 the early stages, and why if useful at that period of the insect's life they are not retained in the 

 last stage, is difficult to understand, though the smooth shining dark coral-red head may, and 

 doubtless does, make the creature more conspicuous. 



2. The hairs in the second stage are, as usual, enlarged at the enil. being tlatteued and sud- 

 denly truncated. 



3. A swollen coral-red dorsal hump arises in the last stage on the first abdominal segment, 

 bearing two very long, black, blunt spines, which can be moved by the hxrva so as to terrify its 

 enemies. 



4. The great dorsal spines along the entire body, and the large lateral ones, like elongated 

 hobnails, have in general grown larger from the second to tlie last stage, rendering the creature 

 probably still more distasteful and repulsive to birds and less open to attack from parasitic Insects. 



.5. It is worthy of notice that in this species the dorsal tubercles and spines are separated 

 widely, while in other Schizura^ those of the first and eighth abdominal segments grow together 

 and form a single more or less movable terrifying spine. Xylinodes is intermediate, the tubercles 

 on the hump being in pairs. 



t). On account of these uni(iue characteristics and its system of conspicuous markings and 

 noticeable appendages, which all unite in giving warning to birds that it is inedible, and the entire 

 absence of protective mimicry, this larva occupies an unique place in the Notodontian group. In 

 other Schizurre we have a mixture of two properties; the larva is both disguised so as to resemble 

 a part of a brown-spotted green leaf, and has a movable deterrent spine on the back. In Symine- 

 rista the larva is so gaily colored as to at once indicate to birds that it is distasteful, but there 

 are no deterrent spines or bristles. It is obvious that experiments should be made by feeding 

 Symmerista, Schizura, and Dasylophia larvaj to birds in order to see if they would be rejected 

 or not. 



The young, at least after the first molt, are so s]nny that it is difficult to say from what 

 existing form this caterpillar may have descended, though the stem-form was a Schizura, as Stage 

 I shows. 



Cocoon. — Resembling that of S. unicornis. (Harris.) " The cocoon is formed of very close fine 

 glossy silk, the leaves of the plant being drawn around it so as to conceal it entirely. It is almost 

 egg-shaped and very symmetrical."' (Edwards.) A cocoon given me by Mr. Beutenmiiller is 

 regularly oval, of silk, rather thin, semitransparent, and 15 mm. in length. It was spun between 

 leaves. Two broods in New York; the spring brood spinning on leaves, the winter brood in the 

 earth (Elliot). 



Piijja. — "Short, broad, bright chestnut brown, very glossy and shining, the abdominal portion 

 showing the few hairs of the larval tubercles." (Edwards.) 



Habits. — Abbot states that in Georgia it breeds twice a year, the first brood making its cocoons 

 toward the end of :\Iay, tlie moths appearing fifteen days afterwards. As is well known in the 

 Northern States, the caterpillars of this species are common and conspicuous, feeding in clusters 

 in a very exposed manner on apple leaves. 



