198 



I.EPIDOPTERA. 



moths select the leaves that their young, the cater- 

 pillars, love best, yet, according to L Trouvelot,^ 

 Te/ea Polyphemus sometimes lays its eggs on plants 

 which the larvae do not eat ; and when, as occasionally 

 happens, there are no other plants for a considerable 

 distance, the caterpillars die, being unable to adapt 

 themselves to their new diet." The caterpillar (Fig. 

 150) is one of our largest, and is bright green in color. 



Fig. 150. 



1 American A^aturalist, Vol. I., pp. 30, 85, 145. 



2 See also Poulton, "Notes in 1886 upon lepidopterous 

 larvae." Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1887, p. 281. The writer 

 maintains that the young lepidopterous larva, on hatching, is in 

 a far less specialized condition, as regards its food plants, than 

 that which it will subsequently reach, and this condition is sup- 

 ported by the fact that young larvce will nibble leaves of plants 

 upon which the species has never been found, and may some- 

 times grow for a considerable time upon such food. The ob- 

 servation that the newly-hatched larva is free to form new 



