234 ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



ted patch. The posterior wing is marked by a round spot with a j'ellow centre, below 

 which there is a distinct transverse brown baud : the base is also mai-ked with four 

 roundish spots, or which appear to have become confluent. 



Infcbior subface yellow, sprinkled with elongate dots as above. Upper wings marked 

 with two round spots, the smaller above the other : anterior margin bordered with 

 brown half its length ; outer margined with a broad reddish band, and scollopped 

 upon its interior margin. The posterior wings arc marked with a single central spot, 

 bordered with purplish brown. 

 The male expands nearly five inches, and the female six inches. 

 The species is said to breed twice in the j'ear : its caterpillar feeds upon the buttonwood 



(Plalanus occidentalis, Linnjeus), oak, and sweetgum. The caterpillar is greenish, tawny 



green or orange green : body spinous, hairy, and the second and third segments armed 



with two pair of short rugose horns. 

 Almost every season, I have seen a few specimens of the Dryocampa : it is, however, 



a rare insect in the vicinity of Albany, or in the western part of Massachusetts. 



Mr. Harris has removed the Ibregoing species from the Genus Ceratocampa, where he 

 had placed it in his Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts ; and refers it, though with 

 some hesitation, to the Genus Drvocampa*. 



Lasiocampaclae. 



The caterpillars of this family are hatched from eggs glued into a gummy substance 

 insoluble in water : the substance entirely surrounds a small limb, forming thus a thick 

 protuberance, in which are contained some three or four hundred eggs. These eggs are 

 hatched as early as April or the beginning of May, or with the development of the leaves. 

 They immediately spin from their mouths a tent like a spider's web, into which they retire 

 at midday and evening, and where they remain until the sun has warmed the air the next 

 morning. 



The caterpillars are sparingly hairy, and free from warts : they are social in their habits, 

 and congregate by hundreds in their impervious tents. They travel with considerable speed. 



The moths are woolly, and their wings are without hooks ; but the anterior edge of the 

 hindwings is turned up, and laps upon the forewings ; and when at rest, they are inclined 

 and cover the back of the insect like a steep roof. The under wings project beyond the 

 upper, when closed upon the body. The moth flies only by night. 



The lasiocampians are among the most injurious insects the farmer has to contend with : 

 they are, however, easily managed, and only require attention and industry when they first 



* Habsxi : Injurious Insects of Massacliusetti, p. 309, 2d edition. 



