LEPIDOPTERA. 



brown color ; in the males there is another purple-brown 

 spot, covering nearly the whole of the outer hind margin of 

 the fore wings, and united to the band near that part ; the 

 body is yellow, shaded with purple-brown on the back, and 

 with three spots of the same color on the thorax. It ex- 

 pands from four inches and a half to more than five inches. 

 In a variety of this moth, of which I have a colored drawing 

 done by Mr. Abbot, the purple-brown color prevails so much 

 as to cover the wings, with the exception only of a large 

 triangular yellow spot contiguous to the front margin of each 

 wing. This moth appears here from the 12th of June to 

 the beginning of July, and then lays its eggs on the button- 

 wood tree. 



The caterpillars (Fig. 197) may be found upon this tree, 

 grown to their full size, between the 20th of August and 

 the end of September, during which time they descend 

 from the trees to go into the ground. They are then 

 from three to four inches in length, and more than half an 

 inch in diameter, and, for the most part, of a green color, 

 slightly tinged with red on the back ; but many of them 

 become more or less tanned or swarthy, and are sometimes 

 found entirely brown. There are a few very short hairs 

 thinly scattered over the body ; the head and the legs are 

 pale orange-colored ; the oval spiracles, or breathing-holes, 

 on the sides, are large and white, encircled with green ; on 

 each of the rings, except the first, there are six thorny knobs 

 or hard and pointed warts of a yellow color, covered with 

 short black prickles ; the two uppermost of these warts on 

 the top of the second and of the third rings are a quarter of 

 an inch or more in length, curved backwards like horns, and 

 are of a deeper yellow color than the rest ; the three triangu- 

 lar pieces on the posterior extremity of the body are brown, 

 with yellow margins, and are covered with raised orange- 

 colored dots. The chrysalis, which is not contained in a 

 cocoon, is about two inches long, of a dark chestnut-brown 

 color, rough with little elevated points, particularly on the 



