THE SATURNIA 10. 393 



rearing the caterpillars of this or of some other American 

 species of Attacus, the cocoons of which were sent to him 

 from New Orleans. The Cecropia does not bear confine- 

 ment well, and is not so good a subject for experiment as 

 the Luna and Polyphemus, which are easily reared, and 

 make their cocoons quite as well in the house as in the open 

 air. The following circumstances seem particularly to rec- 

 ommend these indigenous silk-worms to the attention of 

 parsons interested in the silk culture. Our native oak and 

 nut trees afford an abundance of food for the caterpillars ; 

 their cocoons are much heavier than those of the silk-worm, 

 and will yield a greater quantity of silk ; and, as the insects 

 remain unchanged in the chrysalis state from September 

 to June, the cocoons may be kept for unwinding at any 

 leisure time during the winter. By a careful search, after 

 the falling of the leaves in the autumn, a sufficient number 

 of cocoons may be found, under the oak and nut trees, with 

 which to begin a course of experiments in breeding the in- 

 sects, and in the manufacture of their silk. 



Two more moths, belonging to the family under consid- 

 eration, are found in Massachusetts. They may be referred 

 to the genus Saturnia,* and are distinguished from the fore- 

 going by their antennae, which are widely fjathered only 

 in the males, the feathering being very narrow in the other 

 sex ; their caterpillars, moreover, are furnished with small 

 warts crowned with long prickles or branching spines. None 

 of the caterpillars described in the preceding pages are ven- 

 omous ; all of them may be handled with impunity. This 

 is not the case with the two following kinds, the prickles 

 of which sting severely. The first of these begin to appear 

 by the middle of June, and Fj 18g 



other broods continue to be 

 hatched till the middle of July. 

 These caterpillars (Fig. 18) 

 live on the balsam poplar and 



* The surname of Juno, the daughter of Saturn. 

 50 



