Twelfth Report op the State Entomologist 189 



been frozen stiff and partially encased in ice. In Kentucky the insect 

 spins up about the first of June and the moths emerge about the 15th. 

 Under exceptional conditions the insect pupates in the autumn and the 

 imago is disclosed before winter sets in.' 



The only recorded parasite of this species appears to be Ophion arctm 

 Ashm., which was reared from it at Columbia, S. C. 



Food-plants. 



The insect is a very general feeder in its travels over the ground as it 

 approaches maturity, and eats from almost any plant that it chances to 

 meet with except the coarser ones. It will also climb low trees and 

 feed on the foliage. Among its favorite food plants are some of the 

 Compositae, the wild sun-flower iHelianthus) being one commonly eaten 

 by the larva. It has also been recorded as feeding on the willow, poke 

 berry, and black locust in nature. In confinement it has been reared suc- 

 cessfully on cabbage, the plantain, castor bean [Ricinus conwninis), and 

 the spurge {Euphorbia cyathophora). 



Distribution. 

 This insect has a wide distribution, being comparatively abundant 

 throughout most of the northern United States and in many parts of 

 Canada. In some of the southern swamps it is quite common, and in 

 those regions it has been known as " Fever-worm " among the negroes 

 from a mistaken impression that this caterpillar is the cause of the ague. 



An Innoxious Insect. 

 The injuries resulting from this insect are seldom, if ever, serious, as it 

 is nowhere known as a common pest, and it rarely causes any damage 

 worthy of notice. This would naturally result from their restlessness, 

 which does not allow them to remain long in one place, and from their 

 food consisting largely of comparatively valueless plants. 



