YELLOW-NECKED WORM THE MOTH. 239 



skins and become chrysalids. But on examining several of these 

 worms which buried themselves about ten days since, I find they 

 are not yet changed to pupse. They have not inclosed them- 

 selves in follicles or formed the slightest cavity in the earth 

 surrounding them. They are lying with their backs upwards, 

 and have become rigid and motionless, and are contracted to half 

 their previous size, now measuring an inch in length and 0.38 in 

 diameter. They are about two inches below the surface, and it 

 is surprising that such thick-bodied, soft and flesh-like worms as 

 these were, were able to penetrate earth which is so firmly com- 

 pacted that it almost breaks the blade of a knife to open and 

 pry it asunder in clods. 



The moths (plate 4, fig. 3) commonly measure from two inches to 2.40 

 across the wings when spread. The fore wings vary from pale huff yellow to 

 russet and auburn brown. They are crossed by four and sometimes five nar- 

 row bands of a rusty or auburn brown color or blackish when the ground 

 color of the wings is dusky, and their surface is more or less sprinkled over 

 with rusty or blackish atoms. The anterior band is transverse and regularly 

 curved like a bent bow, with its concave side towards the base of the wing. 

 The other three bands are parallel with the hind margin. The second, which 

 is commonty slightly broader and more distinct than the others, begins on the 

 middle of the inner margin and runs nearly straight three-fourths of the dis- 

 tance across the wing, when it curves strongly forward to the outer margin. 

 The third band is the most faint and is sometimes wholly wanting. It is par- 

 allel with the second and is similarly curved at its outer end though in some 

 individuals less strongly. The fourth band is half way between the third and 

 the tip and is slightly bent like a bow through its whole length, its inner half 

 being nearly parallel with the hind margin and its outer half gradually rece- 

 ding from this margin. A fifth band sometimes occurs, situated slightly for- 

 ward of this last one and parallel with it. Between the posterior band and 

 the hind margin, commencing on the outer edge of the wing is an oblique rusty 

 brown line, running obliquely inward and forward. Between the first and 

 second bands, outside of the middle of the wing is often a dusky dot and back 

 of it a transverse streak. The fringe of these wings is short and of the same 

 color with the bands, and is edged with whitish on the apex. The hind wings 

 are pale or whitish tinged more or less with tawny yellow or dusky. The 

 hind edge of both pairs is entire and not in the least scalloped or toothed. 

 Beneath they are paler, sometimes dull silvery white, sometimes dusky, at 

 least on the forward pair. The head and fore part of the thorax is bright 

 orange or tawny yellow, this color being deeper or brownish towards its pos- 

 terior edge. The remainder of the thorax and the <ibdomen and legs partake 

 of the color of the wings. The tongue or maxillae is almost the tenth of an 

 inch in length, when extended upward reaching the base of the antennas, and 

 is spirally coiled. The feelers or palpi are quite small, being only 0.05 long, 

 and are appressed to the under side of the head, occupying the space between 



