394 



The Moths and Buttertiies 



or two spots near the middle also being darker; the hind wings are pale 

 yellow and not patterned. The species common on walnuts and hickories is 

 Datana angiisii, with fore wings varying from chocolate to deep smoky 

 brown, with transverse lines like those of ministra; the hind wings are 



Fig. 564. — Larva of Heterocampa gultiviUa. (After Packard; natural size.) 



paler brown. The caterpillars are black, with dirty-white hairs and with 

 three equidistant, very narrow, pale-yellow or whitish stripes on each side 

 and three yellow stripes on the under side; when full grown it is a little more 

 than 2 inches long. 



Another conspicuous Notodontid larva occurring on apple-trees is a 

 greenish yellow black-striped caterpillar with a coral-red head and promi- 

 nent hump on the back of the fourth body-ring. This is the larva (Fig. 562) 

 of the red-humped caterpillar-moth, (Edemasia concinna (Fig. 561), a 

 darkish-brown moth ex[)anding about ij inches, the fore wings having a 

 darker brown spot near the middle, a spot near each angle, and several 

 longitudinal streaks along the hinder margin. 



The puss-moths, Cerura, are readily distinguishable by their characteristic 

 black and white wings, white being the ground color, with two broad, not 

 sharply defined blackish bars across the fore wing, one across the disk, the 

 other, often incomplete posteriorly, across the apex. Along the outer margin 

 of each wing there is a row of distinct small black points. The larvje (Fig. 

 793) of Cerura are extraordinary creatures: short, thick, naked body, tapering 

 behind to a kind of forked tail which is held up at an angle with the rest 

 of the body. This tail, which is an organ of defence, consists of two tubes, 

 within each of which is concealed a long orange-colored extensile thread 

 which can be thrust out and drawn in at will. When disturbed, the puss- 

 moth caterpillar thrusts out these vivid tails, waving them threateningly, 

 at the same time giving off a strong odor. It also telescopes its head and 

 front two thoracic segments into the large, humped, third segment, which is 

 so shaped and marked as to suggest some formidable large-eyed creature 

 quite unlike a soft-bodied toothsome caterpillar. With little doubt this 

 elaborate terrifying but actually harmless equipment avails to frighten off 

 many of Cerura's enemies. The larva of a common puss-moth species 

 feeds on wild cherry. When ready to pupate the caterpillars gnaw out a 

 shallow cavity or depression in the wood which they lie in and over which 

 they spin an oval silken net mi.xed with particles of wood, which makes it 

 almost indistinguishable from the rest of the wood surface. These moths 



