I 



THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 119 



THE COTTONWOOD DAGGER— Acrony eta populi, N. Sp. 



(Lepidoptera Acronyctadse.) 



igy^l The Cottonwood tree {Pop- 



S~ sfy - ^_ ulus monilifcra), though not 



J ' - \.^ very generally cultivated in 



S x i |L the more thickly settled parts 



-\ \ ■" . ^ ---/ v S*-, of the country,is yet a valuable 



; tree, especially in the newly 

 - \ settled parts of the "West, 

 ';. '. ^^\^L' " E: »=«c— .-■ where by its rapid growth and 

 "''f^, "^ . .s \ large foliage, it soon furnishes 



-■-> both wood and shade on the 

 ) bleak treeless prairies. Be- 

 sides several borers which eat 

 into the trunk and root, it is 

 attacked in this State by a very curious lazy caterpillar, which de- 

 vours the foliage, and not unfrequently strips the tree. 



This caterpillar (Fig. 87) when full grown, rests curled round upon 

 the leaf, and is easily recognized by its body being covered with long 

 soft bright yellow hairs which grow immediately from the body, part 

 on the back, and curl round on each side. It has a shiny black head, 

 black spots on the top of joints 1 and 2, and a straight black brush on 

 top of joints 4, G, 7, 8 and 11. There are two broods of these worms 

 each year, the first brood appearing during the month of June and 

 producing moths by the last of July, the second brood appearing the 

 last of August and throughout September, and passing the winter in 

 the chrysalis state. The chrysalis is dark shiny brown, and ends in 

 an obtuse point which is furnished with several hooked bristles. It 

 is formed within a pale yellow cocoon of silk intermingled with the 

 hairs of the caterpillar, and is generally built in some sheltered place, 

 such as a chink in the bark of a tree, or under the cap of some 

 fence. 



The moth (Fig. 88, ?) is of a pale 

 H'gray, marked with black as in the figure. 

 i&SppTt belongs to a night-flying genus (Acro- 

 Jpl^i^^ 5 *' nycta) of true Owlet-moths, very closely 

 allied to our common cut-worm moths; 

 and yet the larvae belonging to this genus 

 have none of them the cut-worm habit of 

 concealing themselves under ground, and are exceedingly hetero- 

 geneous among themselves. Some are furnished with long soft hairs 

 like the species under consideration; some with prominent hairy 

 warts; some have protuberances on certain segments ; some are fur- 

 nished with brushes; others not, etc., etc. But notwithstanding this 

 dissimilarity among the larvae of the genus, the moths bear very close 



