100 MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
compact patch of from thirty to eighty, or more, on the under side 
of a leaf. When the caterpillars hatch they are reddish-brown in 
color and covered with minute spines. They are gregarious in their 
habits during the earlier part of their existence, feeding, resting and 
moving from place to place in regular order. When half-grown they 
separate, and during the remainder of the caterpillar state shift for 
themselves. The mature larva is two and a half inches long, of a 
Larva of Saturnia io. 
light green color, with a white stripe edged with reddish-purple 
extending along the sides. It is profusely covered with branching 
spines which are very sharp, and when carelessly touched sting like 
the nettle, causing the part affected to swell into whitish pimples, 
smarting painfully for an hour or two. When about to pupate the 
larva descends to the ground, where it draws together a few dead 
Chrysalis and cocoon of Saturnia io, 
leaves and spins among them a thin, irregular, brown cocoon, in 
which it passes the winter, coming out as a moth late the following 
June. This insect is readily attracted with a bright light, and the 
males may be assembled in numbers with a captive female. 
Saturnia maia. When the leaves of the oak are unfolding in the 
spring colonies of small, dark brown, spiny larvee may be found on 
them by diligent search. These are the young of the maia moth, and 
they may be easily reared by enclosing a small scrub-oak in mosquito 
netting and allowing the larve to feed. As the larvee mature they 
oO 
