FAMILIES HEPIALID^ AND NOTODONTIDJS. 241 



hairs, and brushes on each side of the head ; when mature, two inches long. The tail 



is terminated by an oval spot surrounded by yellow enclosing green and white, the 



white in the form of a stripe. 

 Cocoon bluish, oval, tapering, with eight rings, and dotted along the sides ; less than one 



inch in length. 

 This insect feeds upon oak leaves, and does considerable damage to the white oak by 

 nearly defoliating it. The caterpillar appears as early as the first of May. It is regarded by 

 Abbott and Smith as identical with the European insect of the same name. (See Abbott 

 and Smith's History of the Insects of Georgia, pa. 117, pi. 59 ; and the figures I have 

 given are those of Abbott and Smith, from which it will appear, on reference to plate xlv, 

 that they differ from those of our common orchard moth named by Dr. Harris Clisiocampa 

 americana.) 



Hepialidae. 



The antennae of the insects of tliis family become gradually attenuated at the tip : they 

 are short and filiform, but never feathered at the tip ; but those of the males are some- 

 times doubly pectinated at the base. The tongue is either very short or obsolete. The 

 abdomen is elongated, and provided with an ovipositor. The thorax is never crested. The 

 wings are narrow, but complicated and strengthened by numerous nervures. The larvae 

 have sixteen feet : they are white or reddish, soft and naked, only slightly downy, and 

 furnished with brown heads : they feed upon wood, and construct their cocoons of bits of 

 the wood upon which they have been feeding. The chrysalids are ridged transversely, and 

 notched. 



This family does not appear to contain many species in this country. Dr. Harris has 

 described the Hepiolus argenteomaculatus belonging to the same genus as tlie European 

 hopvine hepiolus, and figured the same in the Lake Superior Expedition conducted by 

 Prof. Agassiz, plate vii, fig. 7. 



Notodontidae. 



The wings of the moths of this family are folded, and slope like the roof of a house over 

 their backs : they are held by bristles and hooks. The antennae are ratlier long, usually 

 doubly pectinated in the males, and become narrow and short towards the tip. The feelers 

 and tongue are small and short : the body is long. 



The larvffi are provided with toothlike prominences upon their hunched backs : they 

 are usually naked, or only downy. The posterior appendages used for feet are sometimes 

 [AoRicuLTuaAi, Report — Vol. v.] 31 



