53 GREEN, OHESTNUT-BAOKED PLUM CATEBXILLAR. 



very rare moth in this part of the country, and has not before, 

 I believe, been reared from the larva state. There is no specimen 

 of it in the "Walsh cabinet, but Mr. Kiley has a single specimen, 

 presented to him by Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, of Canada, under the 

 name given above, of Acronycta superans, of Guenee. It would 

 seem to be a more common species farther north, as Mr. Bethune, 

 in his notes on Canadian Lepidoptera, speaks of having captured 

 numerous specimens at Cobourg, in June, 1855. It can scarcely 

 at present be considered a noxious insect. Nevertheless it feeds 

 upon one of our fruit trees, and, from its considerable size and its 

 non-gregarious habits, it might become a serious pest if it should 

 ever become numerous. 



In the short account given above of these caterpillars, and which 

 contains all we at present know of them, five circumstances are 

 mentioned which we here repeat, in order to show what important 

 inferences may sometimes be drawn from a few well attested facts. 

 First, they were found upon a plum tree and were afterwards fed 

 to maturity upon plum leaves ; they must, therefore, in proportion 

 to their numbers, be injurious to this tree, and must be admitted 

 into the catalogue of noxious insects. Second, from their being 

 found at a distance from each other, we conclude that they are sol- 

 itary in their habits, and therefore would be more difficult to de- 

 stroy if they should ever multiply to any serious extent. Third, 

 from their being stationary by day, we infer that, like many, and 

 perhaps most caterpillars, they are night-feeders. Fourth, from 

 the discovery of a much smaller individual later in the season, it 

 is probable that they have two broods in a year ; and, fifth, from 

 the attached cocoon of the Ichneumon-fly, it is evident that we 

 shall have the aid of parasitic insects in keeping this species in 

 check. As this is a very rare moth, and as it does not appear to 

 have been reared from the larva state, and moreover as the descrip- 

 tion of the superans^ by Guenee, is incomplete in some of the 

 most characteristic particulars, I herewith subjoin a more detailed 

 description of the insect in both the larva and the winged state : 



Larva, or Caterpillar. — Length, one inch. Body thick, green, with a broad, chest- 

 nut-brown stripe the whole length of the back, separated from the adjoining parts by a 

 yellow line. Within the stripe, on the top of each segment, are little shining black tu- 

 bercles, two on the first, second and third segments, and four on the others, arranged in 

 a transverse curved line, each emitting one or more black hairs, but wanting on the last 

 ring. Some long, sparse, whitish hairs along the lower part of the sides. 



