168 CATERPILLARS AND THEIR MOTHS 



each side of the dorsum, behind the thorax, an open 

 crescent. They were very active, wrigghng and roll- 

 ing when their box was opened. 



One peculiarity the larvae had just before pupation, 

 when they were shrunken and moist : they gave out 

 a delicious fragrance, like very sweet mignonette, we 

 thought. One of our visitors thought it more like 

 orris. 



We have found no stung specimens of amyntor, as 

 far as our records show or our memories go, but the 

 caterpillars sometimes die from a disease which seems 

 to liquefy them internally and leave a limp, empty skin. 



They are rather common where elms are found, from 

 Canada to Virginia, and west as far as Missouri and 

 Iowa. They are not considered to be double-brooded 

 and seem to straggle along, the moths beginning to fly 

 in June and the latest caterpillars crawling down to 

 the ground in October, in New England. 



Moths may be found early in the morning on the 

 west side of elm trunks, where daylight has overtaken 

 them. They may be caught about electric lights and 

 at bait or flowers. They fly rather late. They are 

 brown, — coffee-brown and clay-brown, — with black 

 dashes, and white about the head, collar, and thorax. 

 The abdomen is clay-brown, with three black stripes. 



It is safe to say that the caterpillars have frightened 

 more persons than any other harmless crawler except 

 poli/jyhemus, since these two are more often found 

 crawling on sidewalks when ready to pupate. Yet 

 their thorny horns are entirely harmless and do not 

 even give out an urticating fluid. 



Some entomologists have found amyntor larvss on 

 linden and white birch, as well as on elm. 



