LEPIDOPTERA. 347 



stones or any substance which can shelter them from the rays 

 of the sun; here they remain coiled up during the day, except 

 while devouring the food which they generally drag into their 

 places of concealment. Their transformation to pupnn occurs 

 at different periods, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, accord- 

 ing to the forwardness of the season, but usually not much 

 later than the middle of July." " The moths, as well as the 

 larvfp, vary much in the depth of their color, from a pale ash 

 to a deep or obscure brown. The ordinary spots of the upper 

 wings of the moth are always connected by a blackish line ; 

 where the color is of the deepest shade these spots are scarcely 

 visible, but when the color is lighter they are very obvious." 

 Since the foregoing was written, I have repeatedly obtained 

 the same moths from cut-worms here. The latter seem, in- 

 deed, to be the most common kind; but they differ very little 

 from the cut- worms already described. They vary somewhat 

 in color, as remarked by Dr. Melsheimer. Young ones are 

 always more or less distinctly marked above with pale and 

 dark stripes, and are uniformly paler below. The moth is 

 very abundant in the New England States, from the middle 

 of June till the middle or end of August. The fore wings are 

 generally of a dark ash-color, with only a very faint trace of 

 the double transverse wavy bands that are found in most spe- 

 cies of Ag-rotis; the two ordinary spots are small and narrow, 

 the anterior spot being oblong oval, and connected with the 

 oblique kidney-shaped spot, by a longitudinal black line. The 

 hind wings are dirty brownish white, somewhat darker behind. 

 The head, the collar, and the abdomen are chestnut-colored. 

 It expands one inch and three quarters. The wings, when 

 shut, overlap on their inner edges, and cover the top of the 

 back so flatly and closely that these moths can get into very 

 narrow crevices. During the day they lie hidden under the 

 bark of trees, in the chinks of fences, and even under the loose 

 clapboards of buildings. When the blinds of our houses are 

 opened in the morning, a little swarm of these insects, which 

 had crept behind them for concealment, is sometimes exposed, 

 and suddenly aroused from their daily slumber. This kind of 

 moth has the form and general appearance of some species of 



