Female. — Upper Side. Antennae brown and pectinated. Thorax and abdomen red brown. An- 

 terior wings dark red next the body, from whence a narrow light-coloured bar begins at the anterior 

 edge, and running towards the posterior suddenly turns off and ends at the body, forming an obtuse 

 angle ; another light-coloured waved bar crosses the wings, ending on the abdominal edges a little below 

 the body ; the inner side of this bar is a dark chocolate, and between it and the angle of the first bar is 

 placed a light-coloured triangular mark ; near the tips is placed a small black eye, partly surrounded bv 

 a blue iris ; along the external margins of all the wings runs a dark buff edge, through the middle of 

 which runs a small narrow line ; the space between this margin and the waved bar is of a dark red, 

 finely powdered next the bar with grey. Posterior wings, within the waved bar, dark brown chocolate ; 

 the hairs along the abdominal edges greyish ; and on the middle of the chocolate ground is a light- 

 coloured triangular mark ; several submarginal red spots of different sizes, with a small narrow irregular 

 line running between them and the cilia; the space between this margin and the waved bar is dark red, 

 that next the bar is powdered as it were very thickly with small grey spots like dust. 



Under Side. Breast, legs, and abdomen dark red, the sides streaked with white. Anterior wings 

 having only two divisions, separated by the waved bar mentioned above : the inner division of a fine 

 bright chocolate, whereon the small triangular marks are faintly seen ; the external division as on the 

 upper side, but with the mai'kings more distinct. Posterior wings with the part answering to the dark 

 brown chocolate being of a fine dark red, verged with black and white, and surrounded entirely, except 

 the abdominal edges, by the grey powdered field. Margins entire. 



The transformations to which Lepidopterous insects are subject are amongst the most 

 remarkable phenomena of insect life. In the diiferent states to which each is liable, a 

 series of changes is exhibited which has been compared, bv an admired writer, to what 

 might be supposed to be undergone hj an animal which for the first five years of its life, 

 exhibited the form of a serpent, which then penetrated into the earth, spun for itself a 

 silken coffin, contracting itself into a limbless form resembling, more than any thing else, 

 an Eg-yptian mummy ; and which, lastly, after remaining in this state for a length of time, 

 burst into the air a winged bird. Of these states, it may well be conceived, that the 

 second requires, from its inactivity and helplessness, a secure retreat, where, removed and 

 secure from the attack of its enemies, it can rest its appointed period during which the 

 organs of flight acquire their full development. We accordingly find that the varied man- 

 ner in which the caterpillars of the different species prepare their retreats, affords one of 

 the most interesting branches of investigation in the natural history of the Lepidoptera. 

 And in this respect, the species now under consideration certainly exhibits one of the most 

 interesting manoeu\Tes hitherto recorded amongst the insect tribes, and which is described 

 by Mr. Peale in his beautiful "Lepidoptera Americana."* This moth is very abundant in 

 the vicinity of Philadelphia, at least, judging from the number of cocoons seen hanging from 

 the branches of the Sassafras (Laurus Sassafras), and Spice- wood (L. Benzoin) ; and which, by 

 an ordinary observer, would be readily mistaken for withered leaves which had withstood 

 the blasts of winter. After the caterpillar has attained its full size, and lost the voracious 



* Quoted ill the Bi-itish Cyclopaedia of Natural Ilistory, Vol. 1. p. 748. 



