M:iy 18S4. 



PSrCHE. 



169 



ing list, 011c (^E. tricostata^ if iiu' nu'iii- 

 oiy secves aright) seems to lie entirely 

 devoid of this secretion, but yet has the 

 same habit of stantiing erect. These 

 beetles are the veritable skLniks of their 

 order, and tloubtless, like their ill-scented 

 superiors, find protection in their com- 

 paratively as formidable weapon. Thev 

 are apterous, and slow in their move- 



ments, coiuing out from their hiding 

 places when the sun is declining, and 

 feed upon dead matter or excrements. 

 On the hare plains thcj' arc readil}' seen, 

 and I doubt not that they find protection 

 from birds, and perhaps from skunks 

 also, by means of their secretion. 



[For further inlnmiation on this siilijcct, 

 see Rec, 1430-] 



A CURIOUS HABIT OF CALLOSAMIA PROMETHEA. 



BY JOHN GEOItGE JACK, CHATEAUGUAY BASIN, V. (J.., CANADA. 



Fon several years I have been very 

 much puzzled, in summer, to account 

 for numbers of green leaves, some being 

 partly eaten, found on the ground be- 

 neath trees having long petioied leaves, 

 such as luaples and poplars, the jjetiolcs 

 of which apparently liad been eaten 

 through by some insect. Last summer, 

 while in New Jersey, I noticed similar 

 occurrences beneath a sweet gum tree, 

 Liqttidambar stvrac/JJiia, and upon 

 looking for the cause I found that it 

 was the work of nearly full grown larvae 

 of CaUosamia promcilica, which weie 

 feeding on the foliage. The petioles 

 of Liqiiida)>ibar leaves are usually 

 \ery long (from s to 10 cm.) and quite 

 slentler. 



To get at the leaves the caterpillar 

 was cither obliged to abandon the 

 liranch of the tree and crawl out on the 

 leafstalk to the leaf, where it would be 

 in a very dangerous position, with 

 slight foothoUl, and where it was very 

 ]irobable that, owing to the w'cight of its 

 lioih', it would break off the leaf at the 

 node and fall to the ground ; or. the 



caterpillar must contrive to bring the 

 leaf to Uself in some way, while still 

 keeping a sure foothold on the branch. 

 To do this last required a little skill 

 and I found that the 'caterpillar was 

 equal to the task. Grasping the twig 

 firmly with the anal and sometimes one 

 or two pairs of the abdominal legs, it 

 would extend the remaining portion ot 

 its body along- the leafstalk, which it 

 commenced eating. As soon as the 

 leafstalk was about half eaten through, 

 the caterpillar would recede a little and 

 eat another place half through or more, 

 and sometimes a third place. By this 

 time the leafstalk had become so weak- 

 ened that the leaf began to droop, and 

 the caterpillar, reaching forward again 

 as far as possible and grasping the stalk 

 beyond the first incision, v^'as able to 

 bend it, and, drawing the leaf up to 

 itself, eat it without loosing its sure 

 foothold on the tree. 



Sometimes the leafstalk was eaten 

 through a little too far, or broke oft" in 

 bending, which accounted for the green 

 leaves foiuid on the ground. 



