Honey- Producing Caterpillars. 139 



individuals happening to emerge in July, August and Sep- 

 tember being irregular visitants, for which the name of 

 Neglecta has been given. The females of the last form lay 

 their eggs upon Actinomeris squarrosa, and the chrysalids, 

 thence resulting, give Violacea the next spring. 



Larvae feeding on Dogwood vary much in color from those 

 that feed on the Black Snakeroot, few being white in the last 

 stages, but nearly all dull-crimson or green, or a mingling of 

 the two. Nevertheless, a small percentage of the larvae on 

 Cimicifuga racemosa are also green or crimson, though the 

 most of them white. Ants do not seem to visit the larvae on 

 the Dogwood, and on being introduced to them in confine- 

 ment treat them with indifference. On rare occasions tubes 

 have been discovered in the eleventh segment, fully expanded, 

 and accompanied by a pulsating movement, but no teasing 

 or irritating availed to make them appear. Even severe 

 pressure applied to the sides of the segment failed to force 

 out any fluid. As with the fall food-plant, Actinomeris 

 squarrosa, the Dogwood is neither sweet nor juicy, and it is 

 possible that the larvae feeding on these plants do not secrete 

 the fluid. 



Eggs of this polymorphic species are round, flat at base, 

 the top flattened and depressed, and have a diameter of one- 

 fiftieth of an inch. Their ground-color is a delicate green, 

 the entire surface being covered with a white lace-work, the 

 meshes of which being mostly lozenge-shaped, with a short 

 rounded process at each angle. In from four to eight days 

 the egg hatches into a larva, which is scarcely one-twertty-fifth 

 of an inch long, and whose upper side is rounded, the under 

 being flat. On each side of the dorsal line is a row of white 

 clubbed hairs, with similar ones at the base and in front of 

 the second joint, making a fringe around the body. The 

 head is very small, obovoid, retractile and black ; the legs 

 retractile, and the color a greenish-white or brownish-yellow. 



The first moult occurs in from three to five days, the larva 

 having increased to twice its former length, while very little 



