26 



about an inch in length, and present the appearance shown at a, fig. I : in the same figui'e 

 c represents a side view, and d a back view of one of the joints or segments of the body, 

 enlarged so as to show their markings. These caterpillars are called " loopers," because 

 they loop their bodies when in motion. 



The colour of the boily of the larva varies from greenish yellow to dusky or even 

 dark brown. The head is mottled and spotted, and has two pale transverse lines in frout ; 

 the body is longitudinally striped with many narrow pale lines ; along the sides 

 the body becomes deeper in colour, and down the middle of the hack are some blackish 

 spots. When not eating they remain stretched out at full length, and resting on their 

 fore and hind legs under the leaves. 



When full grown they leave the trees, either by creeping down the trunk or by let- 

 ting themselves down by silken threads from the branches. When thus suspended in 

 great numbers, as is frequently the case, under the limbs of trees overhanging roads and 

 sidewalks, they become a great annoyance, especially to over-sensitive pedestrians, and 

 are also often swept off by passing vehicles, and in this manner conveyed to other places. 

 Having reached the ground, they soon begin to burrow into it, and having penetrated 

 from two to si.x inches, a simple earthen cell is formed by compressing the earth, and lin- 

 ing it with a few silken threads ; this makes but a fragile home for the chrysalis, and is 

 easily broken to pieces. 



The chrysalis, which is about five lines long, and one-and-a-half in diameter, is of a 

 pale, greyish-brown colour, with a greenish tint on the wing-sheaths in the male ; that of 

 the female is more jobust than the male, and both are sparingly pitted with shallow dots 

 over their surface. Sometimes the chrysalis produces the perfect insect late in the ar- 

 tumn ; in other cases it remains quiescent during the fall and winter months, emergioj: 

 during the first warm days of early spring. 



The female moths of both species of cankfF 

 % worm are wingless, and present a very odd, spider- 

 like appearance (see b, fig. 2, and h, fig -4), but 

 with none of the activity of that predacious race 

 ^ with a body distended with eggs, she drags her 

 weary way along in a most ungainly manner, un- 

 til she reaches the base of a suitable tree, up 

 which she climu.=, and there awaits the arrival of the male. The abdomen of the female 

 as well as that of the male of this species vernata, b fig.2, have upon the hinder margin 

 of each of the seven rings of the abdomen two transverse rows of stilf, reddish spines,- 

 pointing backwards. At d fig. 2, we have represented a joint of the abdomen showing 

 these spines, c represents a portion of the antenna of the female, and e her retractile 

 ovipositor. 



The male, a fig 2, is active, although a delicate and slender-looking creature. Its 

 fore wings are ash-coloured or brownish grey, of a silky, semi-tran.sparent appearance, 

 with a broken whitish band crossing the wings near the outer margin, and three inter- 

 rupted brownish lines between that and the base. There is an oblique black dash near 

 the tip of the fore wings, and a nearly continuous black line before the fringe. The 

 hind wings are plain, pale ash-coloured, or very light gray, with a dusky dot about the 

 middle of each. 



Anisopteryx pometaria. 



I'his species, although, as already remarked, closely 

 resembling the preceding species, has many points of dif- 

 ference. The eggs— see «and b, fig. 3 — are flattened above, 

 have a central i)uncture and a brown circle near the border, 

 and are laid side by side in regular and compact masses, 

 r (ig. 3, and are usually deposited in exposed situations. 



Tlie newly hatched caterpillar is pale olive green, with 

 the head, and horny covering of the uiipcr part of the 

 scKind segment of a very pale hue. The full grown cater- 

 pillar, /fig. 3, is also differently marked; c represents a 



