198 SPAN-WORMS. 
found between that and the base; there is also an oblique 
black dash near the tip of the fore-wings, and a nearly con- 
tinuous black line at the hase of the fringe. The hind-wings 
are plain pale ash-color, or very light gray, with a dusty dot 
about the middle. All stages of this canker-worm are given 
in Pig, 195. 
THE FALL CANKER-WORM. 
\Anisopteryx pometaria Harr). 
This delicate moth is sometimes flushed late in autumn, 
and frequently after all foliage has been killed by frost, when 
we walk along the edges of forests. The moth flies in bright 
sunshine, as if to enjoy the few brief hours of its existence. 
It is a very frail being, with wings so thin as to be almost 
transparent and it almost seems that it was most decidedly 
out of place at this late season. But notwithstanding their 
frail bodies all canker-worms here and in Europe are very 
hardy, and seem to require for their perfect health and well- 
being a considerable degree of cold. All the moths of this 
insect that we obseve flying are males, the female lacking 
wings for this purpose. The latter is a spider-like and slug- 
gish being, usually having the body so distended with eggs 
that she has to drag it in a rather ungainly manner. All 
she tries to do is to reach a tree, which she climbs, and there 
awaits the arrival of her winged mate. Her body is uni- 
formly colored; it is shining ash color above, gray beneath, 
and measures from three to four-tenths of an inch in length. 
The male has brownish fore-wings, which are very glossy and 
silky, and are crossed by two rather irregular whitish 
bands, the outer one enlarging near the apex, where it forms 
a large palespot. The hind-wings are grayish-brown with 
a faint central blackish spot and a more or less distinct 
whitish band crossing them. 
The eggs of the Fall Canker-worm are flattened above, 
and have a central puncture‘and a brown circle near the bor- 
