THE FORK-TAIL MOTH 423 



an incli and a half in lenojtli, without incluclino; the tei'mlnal 

 Ibrk. Caterpillars of this kind are called Cerui'a, horned- 

 tail, by some, and D'lcranura^ foi-ked-tail, by other natural- 

 ists. Early in Aiigust the one above described makes a 

 tou^h cocoon of bits of wood and bark elued too'ether Avitli 

 a sticky matter, and fastened to the side of a branch, the 

 lower side being flat and the upper convex. The last trans- 

 formation occurs about the middle of June, when, after the 

 end of the cocoon has been softened by a liquid thrown out 

 by the insect Avithin, the moth forces its way through. This 

 insect has been figured in Mr. Abbot's work,* where it is 

 called farcula^ a name, however, which belongs to an Euro- 

 pean insect. It is also represented in Guerin's " Icono- 

 graphie," and in Griffith's translation of Cuvier's " Animal 

 Kingdom " ; and I have adopted the specific name given to 

 it by Dr. Boisduval in these works. Cerura horealis, the 

 northern Cerura, or foi'k-tail moth, like others of the genus, 

 has the antenna3 feathered in both sexes, but narrow, and 

 tapering and bent upwards at the point ; the legs, especially 

 the first pair, which are stretched out before the body when 

 at rest, are, like those of our native Limacodes, very hairy ; 

 and the wings are thin and almost transparent. The ground- 

 color of our moth is a dirty white ; the fore Avings are 

 crossed by two broad blackish bands, the outer one of which 

 is traversed and interrupted by an irregular wavy whitish 

 line ; the hinder margins of all the Avings are dotted with 

 black, and there are scA-eral black dots at the base, and a 

 single one near the middle of the fore Avings ; the top of 

 the thorax is blackish, and the collar is edged Avith black. 

 In some individuals the dusky bands of the fore Avings are 

 edged or dotted with taAvny yellow ; in others, these Avings 

 are dusky, and the bands are indistinct. They expand from 

 one inch and three eighths to one inch and three quarters. 



The following insects, for the sake of couA'enience, may 

 be included in the old genus Notodonta. The first of them 



* Insects of Georgia, p. 141, pi. 71. 



