INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE MAPLE. BB! 
cocoon among the leaves, and transforming the following May or June into a large, 
stout-bodied moth; the males yellow with a very large eye-like spot on the hind wings, 
and the females purple-brown, the wings of the latter expanding nearly three inches 
Although this large cater- 
pillar is a general feeder, 
devouring in the Southern 
States the leaves of the In- 
dian corn, as. well as the 
sassafras, black locust, the 
false indigo, wild black 
cherry (Prunus _ serotina), 
and the willow, currant, cot- 
ton, clover, elm, hop vine, 
balsam, poplar, balm of Gil- 
ead, dogwood, and choke 
cherry, we have found it in 
Maine, where it is a rare Fic. 49.—Green stinging io caterpillar.—After Riley. 
moth, feeding on the rock or sugar maple, and hence refer to it under 
this head. The eggs are top-shaped, attached by the smaller end, in 
patches of about thirty, on the under side of leaves. The caterpillars 
in the Western States begin 
to hatch about the end of 
June, getting their growth 
in two months, after molt- 
ing five times. The spines 
are poisonous to the fingers 
and the caterpillar cannot 
be handled without causing 
some pain and irritation. 
The larva.—About two inches 
long, of a pea-green color; the 
spreading, slender spines deeper 
yellow and often tipped with 
black. A lateral white line, edged. 
above with lilac. 
Fig. 50.—Male of io moth.—After Riley. The moth.—Males deep ochre- 
yellow marked with purple brown, with a large, round blue spot, bordered with black, 
with a central white dash. The fore wings of the female are purple brown, the 
hind wings as in the male. In Massachusetts the moths appear during June or early 
in July. 
12. THE MAPLE DAGGER-MOTH. 
Apatela americana Harris. 
Order LepmporTERA; family Nocruip#. 
In September, a rather large greenish-yellow caterpillar, with long hairs ornamented 
with four pencils of long hairs, and a single pencil on the eleventh ring, spinning a 
dense cocoon under the bark or elsewhere, and transforming into a whitish moth the 
next summer. 
This is not uncommon on maple trees late in the autumn, and its 
