134 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



pillar is great. While it is more commonly 

 marked with red and black, as indicated in 

 our figure, the one color often encroaches 

 more or less upon the other, so that we may 

 have every gradation from individuals that 

 are entirely black to those which are entirely 

 red, and «e have seen specimens illustrating 

 all the gradations. The very young larvse 

 usually have most black. But the variation 

 is not confined to the relative amount of 

 these two colors. 



In the summer of 1870 we found a larva 

 which had so different an appearance that 

 we naturally concluded that it belonged to 

 some other species. It was uniformly cov- 



[Fig. 52 



Ophion macrurUM (from American Naturalist). 



ered with much larger, rufous hairs, tipped 

 with black. On Sept. 20 of that year it 

 changed its skin, eating up the shed skin 

 entirely, and assumed the normal charac- 

 teristics given in our figure. Mr. John 

 Hamilton, of Alleghany, Pa., some years 

 afterword communicated to us the follow- 

 ing experience of a similar variation : 



I captured several of the imagos near the ist 

 of September. On the 5th of August I found two 

 larva; under drift on the river bank, which 1 did 

 not recognize as Isabellas at the time : they were 

 covered with mouse-colored hair, not even!)' 

 clipped in appearance, but long and soft, and 

 among them were blackish-brown ones, about 

 half-and-half on the two anterior and two pos- 

 terior segments, but scarcely noticeable on the 

 intermediate ones. They spun cocoons on the 

 6th, and disclosed on the 17th one 9 and one <? , 

 the female a regular Isabella, the male very pale, 

 and the secondaries almost white. I was quite 

 surprised to discover Isabellas disclosing from 

 such larva;. Other imagos captured a week or 

 two later were all $ and without any peculiaiity. 



At least four distinct parasites attack 

 this caterpillar, a fact which shows that its 



stiff hairs are no protection to it, and it is 

 noteworthy that all these parasites belong 

 to the group with short ovipositors. We 

 have reared the uniformly honey-yellow 

 Ophion macriinim Linn. (Fig. 52), or Long- 

 tailed Ophion, from its chrysalis, the para- 

 site forming a tough cocoon of a deep 

 bronze color within it. We have also 

 reared from it the Iihiwiiinon CKriileiis 

 Cress., the fly issuing from the chrysalis, 

 but making no cocoon of its own. It 

 is a lieautiful, steel-blue species, with 

 yellowish-white marks around the eyes, on 

 the neck and thorax, and on the legs, the 

 female being distinguished from the male 

 by having a mark of the same pale color 

 on the lop of the antennae about their mid- 

 dle, but less white around the eyes, about 

 the face and on the legs. Mr. O. S. West- 

 cott has reared from the Isabella chrysalis 

 another beautiful Ichneumon [Ichneumon 

 sii^natif)cs Cr.), which is characterized by 

 its black head an,l thorax and deep brown- 

 ish-red abdi alien, and by a yellowish an- 

 nulus just beyond the middle of the anten- 

 nse, one on each of the tibise, and, besides 

 other yellowi-h marks, one conspicuous 

 spot on the scutellum or about the middle 

 of the thorax. A fourth parasite was 

 reared by Mr. V\'estcott, nnmely, the Saf- 

 fron-horned Trogus {Tragus obsidianator 

 Brulle), a large black species, with smoky 

 wings, and the feelers and part of the front 



legs of a saffron-yellow. 



^ — ^ 



THE ROMANCE OF A CATERPILLAR. 



B^■ W.M. C. WVCKOFF. 



{Conciuried /rom /. 114.] 



There is yet another Japanese legend 

 connected with this subject ; it accounts 

 for improvements in tlie weaver's art. This 

 story has been recently told in a French 

 newspaper, tlie Journal dc F Aiii. The 

 Japanese, like the Chinese, regard filial 

 piety as the highest of the virtues. In 

 this respect the hero of the tale, Toung 

 Voting, was a model son. When his mother 

 died, he beggared him=elf to procure a 

 coffin. Shortly afterwards his father also 

 died, and the youth sold himself, so as to 

 be al)le to meet the expenses of the funeral 



