ACRONYCTA HASTULIFERA 



GENUS, ACRONYC'TA. 



SPECIES, HASTULiF'ERA (" spear bearing " : from marks like spearheads on 

 the wings). 



"We have found hundreds of these caterpillars on alder, 

 and some on willow. They vary in color from pale 

 chocolate-brown to deep chocolate, and are sometimes 

 of a pale yellow-brown, always dark between the seg- 

 ments, and have dark pencils on the dorsum. When 

 disturbed they curl up and drop from the plant, like 

 the " woolly bears." 



They are subject to fungoid diseases which kill 

 many of them, and their stiff bodies may be found on 

 branches of the alders, apparently unharmed, but they 

 break at a touch and are filled with fungoid growth. 

 Parasites kill many of them also. They sj)in cocoons. 



298 



