WILLOW CATERPILLAES. 569 



dorsal black stripe, with fascicles of straw-yellow hairs, which seem to be finely 

 spinulated; there are ten warts on a segment in the middle of the body; the stiff 

 yellow hairs are of nearly the same length and radiate quite regularly from the 

 wart ; a few of the hairs are black, from one to three in a fascicle ; there are also 

 a few slenderer hairs one-fourth to one-third as long as the body. Length, 40"""^. 



Before the last molt the head is green behind, and in front is a pale V-shaped 

 mark, and the hairs are a little longer in proportion to the thickness of the body. 



24. The herald. 

 Scoliopteryx libatrix (Linn.). 

 (Larva. Plate v, fig. 4.) 



This fine moth, common to the New and Old World, is in England 

 called "the Herald." Here, as well as in Europe, it feeds as a general 

 rule upon the willow, but we are told by Mr. H. L. Clark that he has 

 bred it from the wild cherry in Rhode Island. 



Its habits so far as they have been noticed are nearly the same as 

 observed in Europe. Mr. Lintner, the State entomologist of New York, 

 says that the caterpillar feeds on and pupates among some of the leaves 

 drawn together by silken threads to which the pupa is attached by an anal 

 spine. The fall brood remains in the pupa state from fifteen to twenty 

 days. He bred a moth which emerged August 3, hence he thinks that 

 there are probably two annual broods of this species, since he has taken 

 it in the early part of May. In Illinois Mr. Coquillett bred a larva which 

 spun its cocoon August 23, while the moth appeared September 7. 



Professor Eiley's notes show that he found the larvae at Kirkwood, 

 Mo., in May, 1872 ; that they began to spin their cocoons May 29 ; and 

 that the moths began to emerge June 11. On June 17 eggs were 

 found. 



We have found the larva on the willow at Brunswick, Me., August 

 26, when it was nearly full grown. It is easily recognized, since it is one 

 of the few Noctuid caterpillars to be found on the willow, and may be 

 known by its pale green hue and the yellow lateral line, as well as by 

 the yellowish sutures between the body-segments. A chrysalis beaten 

 out of a willow tree during the last week in August disclosed the moth 

 about the 12th of September. Another chrysalis was found at Jackson, 

 N. H., during the second week in. September, the moth appearing Sep- 

 tember 14. The larva had sewed together four or five willow leaves at 

 the end of a terminal shoot, and the cavity thus formed was lined with 

 a thin but dense whitish cocoon in which the pupa was situated with 

 the head upwards, and firmly held in place by the hooks on the abdom- 

 inal spine. The moth hibernates, appearing in May as soon as the 

 leaves are unfolded, and we see no grounds for supposing that there 

 is more than a single brood of caterpillars or of moths. The chrysalis 

 is quite unlike that of most Noctuidae which transform in the earth, and 

 have a simple blunt spine. 



The cremaster or spine of the present species is much like that of 

 those Geometrids which spin a cocoon. We have thus an interesting 



