BOMBYCIDS. 89 
insect pest which may have at one time threatened the destruction 
of the plants upon which it subsisted. 
The forest tent caterpillar, Clistocampa disstria, resembles the pre- 
ceding species both in its habits and in the general appearance of the 
caterpillar and moth. The larva is more bluish than the common 
tent caterpillar, has a row of spots along the back instead of lines, is 
greenish on the sides and has a blue head. It lives in large colonies 
of three or four hundred individuals on oaks and walnuts, and makes 
a large tent beneath which it remains except when feeding. This 
insect I have seen very abundant in the White Mountain region of 
New Hampshire, where it not only devoured the leaves of the oak 
and walnut, but also apple, cherry, and when hard pressed even birch, 
alder and elm. The insects were nearly full grown by the middle of 
June. The moth is about the same size as the preceding, but is of 
a more reddish-tan color, and the fore wings are crossed by a broad 
band of a darker shade. It is an inhabitant of all the New England 
and Middle States. 
Tolype velleda. 
The lappet moth, Tolype velleda, is a pretty and interesting species. 
The larva is very much flattened beneath, and along its sides are a 
number of flat projections or lappets from which spring numerous 
hairs making a fringe around the body. When the insect is not 
feeding it hugs closely to the bark of the tree, the hairs on it sides 
lie flat against its support; and as its colors are dull greenish-gray, it 
looks like nothing on earth so much as a swelling on the bark. One 
may even gaze directly upon it without realizing that it is anything 
alive. The larva is orange, sometimes red beneath and has an in- 
tensely black band between two of the segments on the upper side on 
the forward part of the body. This band does not show when the 
insect is at rest. It feeds upon the apple, poplar and willow, and 
reaches full size during July, when it is two inches or more in length. 
It spins a thick gray-brown cocoon, oval in shape, convex above, flat 
and very thin on the under side, and spreading out on the edges like 
