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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:7— Oct., 1919 



Luna caterpillar fully grown. 



The Luna {Tropaea luna) 



Of all the beautiful silk-womi moths the luna is far the most 

 graceful in fonn and the most exquisite in color. It may be seen 



flying about elec- 

 tric lights during 

 May and Jtme, and 

 has been likened to 

 a "great, white 

 ghost of a bird 

 appearing for a mo- 

 ment then vanish- 

 ing in the dark- 

 ness." 



Food plants. — 

 Hickory, birch, 

 oak, butternut, 

 walnut and others. 

 The eggs. — These 

 are white and are 

 laid a few in a row on the leaf of a food plant. They hatch in 

 about a fortnight after being laid. 



The caterpillar. — This resembles very much the caterpillar 

 of the polyphemus. It is green when it hatches, but the head is 

 not entirely brown like that of the polyphemus. There is no 

 noticeable change after the molts, except that after the fourth 

 molt, a yellow broken line may be seen running along each 

 side of the body showing on the hind half of each segment. 

 The tubercles vary from red to rose color and yellow, and the 

 abdominal tubercles are sometimes blue. This caterpillar varies 

 much in markings and coloring. It is usually distinguished from 

 the polyphemus because it lacks the oblique yellow lines on the 

 abdominal segments, and has instead a line along each side of the 

 body: but we have had caterpillars that showed this lateral line 

 so set on edge along the segments, that we were very much sur- 

 prised when luna instead of polyphemus moths issued from the 

 cocoons. 



The cocoon. — The caterpillar spins its cocoon by drawing two 

 leaves closely around it. The cocoon resembles that of the poly- 

 phemus very much, and like it, it usually falls to the ground with 

 the leaves. However, luna caterpillars have been found on the 



