HYPERCHIRIA 10 2G9 



and brown speckles on the anal props. The green 

 spreading spines gave the caterpillars a mossy look, 

 and nrticated, or stung, well if touched. This is not 

 by any volition of the caterpillar, but because the 

 pressure on the spines forces out the acid secretion 

 which causes the stinging sensation. 



lo caterpillars sometimes live on corn, and many a 

 country man and woman will tell of being bitten by 

 "an awful green bug" on the corn wiien they have 

 rubbed against an io. 



They began spinning on the fifty-seventh day after 

 hatching, having grown to a length of two and a half 

 inches. 



We often find them on willow, beach-plum, bay- 

 berry, w^ld-cherry, ai:)ple, pear, plum, hickory, sassa- 

 fras, elm, majile, oak, birch, and linden, and they have 

 been found on locust, ash, poplar, rose, currant, and 

 clover, and ''many other j^lants." They are common 

 everywhere, but do not seem abundant enough to do 

 any real damage, though we once saw a small willow 

 defoliated by twenty-one io caterpillars. They are 

 single-brooded, but the moths have often disappointed 

 our hopes by emerging in November or December in- 

 stead of waiting till spring — summer rather, as they 

 are due in July. 



The cocoon is very thin — so thin that the pupa can 

 be seen through it — and brown. It is much like the 

 cocoon of lima^ but is thinner and more shapeless. It 

 is spun among leaves on the ground. The pupa is short, 

 stout, almost black, and has a cremaster furnished w^ith 

 hooks which hold it in i:)lace in the cocoon. The 

 broad antennae show the male as in other saturniids. 



