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branch by silken threads being wound around and fastened 

 so securely that the winds fail to detach it, and there it 

 hangs until warm weather unfolds the leaves and the moth 

 makes its escape through one end. They are nocturnal in 

 habit, and are seldom seen. 



The male and female differ very much in appearance. 

 "The same design is manifest in both sexes, but the 

 general color of the male is a deep, rich, smoky or amber- 

 brown ; while that of the female is of a lighter rust or 

 reddish brown. Both have a pale wavy line across the 

 middle, and a clay-colored border along the hind edges of 

 the wings. Both also have an' eye-like black spot, with a 

 pale-blufsh crescent inside, near the tip of front wings, but 

 the female has a pale angular spot, shaded outside with 

 black, near the middle of each wing, which is only 

 occasionally faintly indicated on the unjderside in the male. 

 The Antennae of the male are about twice as broad as those 

 of the female." 



The eggs are laid on the limbs of the tree, about the first 

 of July, in clusters of five or six. The larvse subsist upon 

 the leaves of the Sassafras, changing to the chrysalis in the 

 autumn. They can be gathered from the tree any time 

 during the winter or early spring. 



The Promethea cocoon often contain other small silken 

 cocoons from which issue small parasites, they having 

 subsisted on the substance found on the inside of the 

 chrysalis. 



The Sassafras is not the only food which they live upon. 

 The cocoons are found suspended from the branches of the 

 Wild Cherry, Ash, Poplar, and a few others, but not as 

 frequently as from the Sassafras limbs. 



The pine and fir tree are seldom disturbed to any 

 extent by leaf-eating caterpillars the resinous odor of the 

 tree proving offensive to many of them does not prevent 



