LEPIDOPTERA. 301 



leave their winter quarters. Drury eallcd this kind of moth 

 Proinelhea, a mistake probably for Prometheus* the name of 

 one of the Titans, all of whom were fabled to be of gigantic 

 size. The color of Attaciis Proincthea difters according to the 

 sex. The male is of a deep smoky ])rown color on the upper 

 side, and the female light reddish brown; in both, the wings 

 are crossed by a wavy whitish line near the middle, and have 

 a wide clay-colored border, which is marked by a wavy reddish 

 line; near the tips of the fore wings there is an eye-like black 

 spot within a bluish white crescent; near the middle of each 

 of the wings of the female there is an angular reddish white 

 spot, edged with black ; these angular spots are visible on the 

 under side of the wings of the male, but are rarely seen on 

 their upper side; the hind wings in both are rounded and not 

 tailed. These moths expand from three inches and three quar- 

 ters to four inches and a quarter. The female deposits her 

 eggs on the twigs of the trees, in little clusters of five or six 

 together, and these are hatched towards the end of July or 

 early in August. The caterpillars usually come to their full 

 size by the beginning of September, and then measure two 

 inches or more in length, when extended, and about half an 

 inch in diameter. The body of the caterpillar is very plump, 

 and but very little contracted on the back between the rings. 

 It is of a clear and pale bluish green color; the head, the feet, 

 and the tail are yellow; there are about eight warts on each 

 of the rings; the two uppermost warts on the top of the second 

 and of the thu-d rings are almost cylindrical, much longer than 

 the rest, and of a rich coral-red color; there is a long yellow 

 wart on the top of the eleventh ring; all the rest of the warts 

 are very small, and of a deep blue color. Before making its 

 cocoon the caterpillar instinctively fastens to the branch the 

 leaf that is to serve for a cover to its cocoon, so that it shall 

 not fall off in the autumn, and then proceeds to spin on the 

 upper side of the leaf, bending over the edges to form a hol- 

 low, within which its cocoon is concealed. 



* Atlas was the brother of Prometheus, and this name, it will be recollected, 

 has been given to another of the Bombyces, an immensely large moth from China. 



