PAONIAS EXCCECATUS 



GENUS, pao'nias ("obliged": no appropriateness). 



SPECIES, excceca'tus (" blind-eyed " — probably an allusion to the eye-spots). 



We begin to think that we might rear cxccecatus every 

 year and have a different tale to tell each time. It is 

 a common species, the caterpillars being fonnd on wil- 

 low, cherry, — both wild and cultivated, — white birch, 

 poplar, oak, ai:)ple, pear, plum, rose, spiraea, hazel, 

 hornbeam, ironwood, ash, raspberry, wistaria, Pyrus 

 japonica, and probably on other trees and shrubs. Its 

 range is all through Canada and the eastern United 

 States. It is one of the first sphingid caterpillars 

 which beginners find, and if they rear many broods of 

 excoecatus they will become hardened to surprises. 



The moths fly to lights and are often found resting 

 on the side of the house or under the piazza-roof in 

 the morning. We have found them on tree-trunks 

 out of the sunlight as late as noon, and newly emerged 

 moths at about eight o'clock in the morning, already 

 spread and nearly dry enough to fly, yet they are 

 night-fliers. 



All the eggs we have seen have been ovoid, bright 

 green, and shining, and have turned whiter before 

 hatching. This seems the one fixed point in their 

 history. 



184 



