348 LEPIDOPTERA. 



scribed species, which some of the French entomologists* 

 have supposed to be the same as the great tiger, Arctia Caja, 

 of Europe. Of this fine insect I have a specimen, which was 

 presented to me by Mr. Edward Doubleday, who obtained it, 

 with several others, near Trenton Falls in New York. It 

 has not yet been discovered in Massachusetts, but will proba- 

 bly be found in the western part of the State. The fore 

 wings of the Arctia Americana expand two inches and a half 

 or more ; they are of a brown color, with several spots and 

 broad winding lines of white, dividing the brown surface into 



O ' O 



a number of large irregular blotches ; the hind wings are 

 ochre-yellow, with five or six round blue-black spots, three 

 of them larger than the rest; the thorax is brown and woolly; 

 the collar edged with white before, and with crimson behind; 

 the outer edges of the shoulder-covers are white ; the abdo- 

 men is ochre-yellow, with four black spots on the middle of 

 the back ; the thighs and fore legs are red, and the feet dark 

 brown. This moth closely resembles the European Caja, and 

 especially some of its varieties, from all of which, however, 

 it is essentially distinguished by the white edging of the col- 

 lar and shoulder-covers, and the absence of black lines on the 

 sides of the body. It is highly probable that specimens may 

 occur with orange-colored or red hind wings like the Caja, 

 but I have not seen any such. The caterpillar of our species 

 probably resembles that of the Caja, which is dark chestnut- 

 brown or black, clothed with spreading bunches of hairs, of 

 a foxy-red color on the fore part and sides of the body, and 

 black on the back ; but the clusters of hairs, though thick, 

 are not so close as to conceal the breathing holes, which form 

 a distinct row of pearly-white spots on each side of the body. 

 These caterpillars eat the leaves of various kinds of gar- 

 den plants without much discrimination, feeding together in 

 considerable numbers on the same plant when young, but 

 scattering as they grow older. 



* Godart. L^pidopt. de France, Tom. IV. p. 303. It is figured in the " Lake 

 Superior " of Agassiz and Cabot, pi. 7, fig. 5. 



