68 



They moulted on the 6th of July, when they developed from the third 

 segment a pair of seven-jointed black horns. Towards the end of the 

 second stage they assumed a bluish green tint, with slightly darker longi- 

 tudinal stripes. They moulted again on the 14th of July, and became of a 

 sage green with yellow sub-dorsal, side, and spiracular lines. The spiracles 

 were black, and there were several black, pointed tubercles along the 

 middle of each segment in the upper side. At the moult on the 23rd of 

 July they became black, and the yellow stripes and black proturberances 

 became more pronounced. Thej^ moulted again on the 4th of August, and 

 attained their full growth by the second week of that month. Before the 

 end of the month, all in my keeping had buried themselves in the soil, but 

 so late as the 13th of September I found in the woods a solitary straggler 

 of the species. 



Towards the end of their time the larvae have the strange habit after 

 feeding of bunching themselves together at the end of the mid-rib of a 

 skeletonized leaf. In this position they somewhat resemble the small webs 

 that in August are so frequently seen on forest trees. They do this, prob- 

 ably, that they may escape the attention of birds. 



Datana angusii (Grote & Robinson). — One day, in the middle of Sep- 

 tember, when walking along a lane near my home, I was struck with the 

 appearance of a hickory-tree that spread its branches over-head. These 

 branches were stripped bare of leaves, and the nuts upon them were very 

 conspicuous. I looked for the cause of the defoliation, and found a number 

 of full-grown larvae of Datana angusii (G. & R.) These were the laggards 

 of a host, for they alone could not have caused such devastation. Their 

 companions had retired into the soil. 



A quarter of a mile awa}^ I found a smaller tree completely stripped, 

 by a somewhat later brood of the same kind of larvae. They were in full 

 possession of the tree, but they would have to migrate for their next meal, 

 or give over eating. 



Certainly the caterpillars of Datana angusii are a disreputable looking 

 brood. They are of a dingy black with some indistinct, greenish yellow, 

 longitudinal lines, and with a profusion of long sordid white hairs. They 

 are not nearly so trim in their appearance as their congeners, the larvae of 

 D. ministra, which are often seen round Montreal and in the Eastern Town- 

 ships, feeding upon apple-trees. Both these species are injurious. 



Symmerista albifrons (Smith & Abbott). — The late Dr. Fletcher 

 reported the caterpillars of this species as having been "most injurious to 

 oaks and maples" (Report 32) ; and Dr. A. S. Packard says of the species, 

 "It feeds on the oak to which it is occasionally destructive" (Guide p. 



