FAMILIES IIEPIAUD.E AND NOTODONTID.f:. 241 



hairs, aiul l>r>ishes on each side of the head ; when mature, two inches long. The tail 



is terminated by an oval spot surrounded by yellow enclosing green and while, the 



wliite iu the form of a stripe. 

 Cocoon bluish, o\-al, tapering, with eiglit rings, and dotted along the sides ; less than one 



inch in length. 

 This insect fee«ls upon oak leaves, and does considerable damage to the wliito oak l>y 

 nearly defoliating it. The caterpillar ajipejirs as early as the first of May. It is regtifded by 

 Abdott and Smith as iilentical with the European insect of the same name. (See Abbott 

 and Smith's History of the Insects of Georgia, pa. 117, pi. 59; and the figures I have 

 given are those of Abbott and S.MiTH,from which it will appear, on reference to plate xlv, 

 that they differ from those of our common orcliard moth named by Dr. Haruis Clisiocampa 

 amcrtcana.) 



Ilcpialidac. 



The antennae of the insects of this family become gradually attemiatetl at the tip : they 

 arc sliort and filiform, but never feathered at the tip ; but those of the males arc some- 

 times doubly pectinated at the bjise. The tongue is either very short or obsolete. The 

 abdomen is elongated, and proviiled with an ovipositor. The thorax is never crested. The 

 wings are narrow, but complicated and strengthened by numerous nervures. The larvae 

 have sixteen feet : they are white or reddish, soft and naked, only slightly downy, and 

 furnislu'd with brown heads : they feed upon wood, and construct their cocoons of bits of 

 the wood upon which they have been leeding. The chrysalids are ridged transversely, and 

 notched. 



This family does not appear to contain many sjiecies in this country. Dr. H.^rkis has 

 descrilK-d the Hepiolus argcnfeomnctilatus lielonging to the same genus as the fhiropean 

 hopvine hepiolus, and figured the same in the Lake Superior Expetlition conductetl by 

 Prof. Agassiz, plate vii, fig. 7. 



Notodoiitidae. 



The wings of the moths of this family are folded, and slojie like the roof of a house over 

 their backs : they are held by bristles and hooks. The antenna; are ratlier long, usually 

 doul)ly pectinated in the males, and l)ecome narrow and short towanls the tip. Tlie feelers 

 and tongue ai-e small and short : the body is long. 



The larva> are provided with toolhlike prominences upon their hunched l>acks : they 

 are usually naked, or only downy. The posterior appendages used for feet are sometimes 

 [ Ageicultural Report — Vol. v.] 31 



