CHERRY CATERPILLARS. 525 



larva. The figure on PI. Ill is after a colored drawing by Maj. John E. 

 Le Conte, which 1 owe to the kindness of his son, the late Dr. J. L. Le 

 Conte. He also figured the unspotted form ; in Georgia, according to 

 Le Conte's notes, it feeds on Cerasus virginianus, Crataegus, and another 

 plant of doubtful species ( " Quercus ? " ). 



Larva before the last molt. — Head produced above ; body pale glaucous greeu ; twa 

 minute red-subdorsal spots on the mesothoracic segment; two large subdorsal round- 

 ish deep-red spots edged with yellow above and beneath (being situated between 

 the yellow lateral bands) on the secoud and third and seventh abdominal segments ; 

 seven oblique lateral yellow lines, that one extending to and upon the horn being the 

 most distinct ; thoracic feet red. Length 30'"™. 



Full-groum larva. — With the same marks when present as in the preceding stages^ 

 bni they are smaller; in two specimens there are no spots on the mesothoracic and 

 third abdominal segments, and in another there are no red spots at all. Length 45™"'. 



7. Adoneta spinuloides Herrich-Schaeffer. 



This has been reared by Hy. Edwards and Elliot from the wild 

 cherry. 



Larva. — Whole lateral region bright apple green. The dorsal is chestnut brown, 

 narrow on the second segment, widened on third, and still wider on fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth. The seventh is yellowish green, thus breaking the line of the chestnut color. 

 On segment 8 the brown markings again widen out, extending over 9, and nar^ 

 rowing on 10 and 11. On the sides of the back is a row of orange-red tubercles,^ 

 eleven on each side, bearing very short spines, those of the posterior segment* 

 being the largest. There is also a series of non-spinous tubercles above the spiracles. 

 Length 0.40 inch. (Papilio, iii, p. 129.) 



8. THE PROMETHEA SILK- WORM. 



Callosamia promethea Drury. 



This silk- worm is not uncommon on the wild cherry, as well as the 

 cultivated species; its cocoons we have observed late in the autumn, 

 both in Cambridge, Mass., and Providence. The following historical 

 notice is copied from Mrs. Dimmock's article in Psyche, iv, p. 276: 



Attacus promethea DrnTy {ll\u8. Nat. Hist. . . . 1770, v. 2, pi. 11,12). Hartia 

 (Rept. Ins. Injur. Veg., 1841, p. 280-281) describes larva, cocoon, and imago of this 

 species, giving Sassafras, wild cherry, Azalea, and Cephalanthus as food-plants; later 

 (Treatise Ins. Injur. Veg., 1862, p. 390,391) he repeats these descriptions, adding fig- 

 ures of the male and female imagos. Morris (Synop. Lepid. N. A., 1862, p. 224,225) 

 describes larva, cocoon, and imago, and adds Laurus bemoin to the food-plants. 

 Tronvelot (Amer. Nat., Mar. 1867, v. 1, p. 31) gives a note on the cocoon, and adds 

 Syringa to the food-plants. Minot (Can. Entom., May 1870, v. 2, p. 100) compiles a 

 list of the food-plants of the larva, adding to those mentioned above, Berberis, Bettila, 

 Acer, Quercus, sometimes Thuja, and Pinus, Fagus, apple, peach, plum, silver-bell 

 {Halesia'^. Riley (4th Ann. Rept. State Entom. Mo., 1872, p. 121-123) describes th& 

 egg, five larval stages, and the cocoon, and figures larva, cocoon, and male and female 

 imagos; he adds Liriodendron to the food-plants. Lintner (Entom. Contrib., No. 3, 

 1874, p. 126) describes egg and young larva. W. H. Edwards (Psyche, Jan. [27 June"] 

 1881, V. 3, p. 161, 171-174) discusses the variability in the number of molts of A. 

 promethea, showing that it molts in West Virginia only three times, thus having 



