140 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



Larva before last molt. — Body as in the adult, but smaller, and the hairs are thinner 

 and looser and about twice as long aud very much liner. The body can be seen 

 through them aud the hue cottouy hairs can be seen to arise in dense verticils from 

 small mammilhe, which are soft and white like the rest of the body, or pale tawny 

 ocherous, while all the thoracic segments bear slate-colored hairs above. Behind each 

 spiracle is an erect long conical acute fleshy projection, concealed by the hairs ; the 

 eighth segment has no such projection ; the prothoracic spiracles are on the suture 

 very near the mesothoracic segment, which have a similar but rounded and slightly 

 chitinous projection in front of them. Lengthy 20""" ; breadth, 16™"i ; height, 10"»"\ 

 (Compare also the full account of the transformations of this moth by Dr. Lintner, 

 Ent. Coutr., ii, 138.) 



193. Lagoa opercularis (Abbot and Smith.) 



Fig. 4i.~ Lagoa opercularis, larva. — After Kiley. 







Fig. 45. — Lagoa opercularis, cocoon. — After 

 Hubbard. 



""■''■'UirJ, iHf 



Fig. AQ.— Lagoa opercularis, moth, natural 

 size. — After Hubbard. 



The following account of this interesting insect is taken from Mr. 

 Hubbard's, Report on Orange Insects: 



The caterpillars of this moth are covered with long, silky hairs, underneath which 

 are concealed shorter, stiff hairs, exceedingly sharp at the points and powerfully 

 nettling when they penetrate the flesh. Upon some persons the invisible wounds 

 made by these hairs produce swellings and an amount of irritation equivalent to a 

 sting; the larvae are, in consequence, popularly supposed to be very poisonous. When 

 young the caterpillars are white and resemble a flock of cotton wool. They undergo 

 six molts, at one of the last of which they become darker, the color varying in indi- 

 viduals from red-brown to light-clay color. 



The) cocoon is placed in a crotch of the tree or upon a branch of considerable size; 

 it is 20""" (eight-tenths inch) long, oval, convex, flattened on the side next the tree, 

 and fastened very firmly to the bark. The upper end is abruptly truncate, and fitted 

 with a hinged trapdoor, which is readily pushed open from within by the escaping 

 moth, but does not yield to pressure from without, and is so accurately fitted that no 

 tell-tale crack can be discerned. Upon the back of the cocoon is an elevation formed 

 by the meeting of several folds and ridges, forming a marvelously exact imitation of 

 a winter bud. The ends of a lock of hair from the body of the caterpillar counterfeit 

 the down which in nature protects the dormant bud. The substance of which the 

 cocoon is made is a tough parchment, composed of agglutinated silk, in which is 

 felted the long, hairy covering of the larva. Its color is a neutral brown, closely ap- 

 proximating to that of the bark upon which it is placed. The entire arrangement is 

 a most successful representation of the stump of a small branch broken oft" near its 

 junction with the main stem, and upon which is plainly shown the swelling of a bud. 



Life-history. — The larva is a very general feeder, and although the oak appears to 

 be its principal food plant, it is occasionally injurious to the orange. It never injures 

 the bark or tender shoots, but subsists only on the mature leaves. 



There are two broods, one in early summer and the other in the fall. The larvae of 

 the second brood form their cocoons in November or December, and in them pass the 



