118 MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
A number of the following stout-bodied, hairy moths belong to 
the family Natodonta. Some of them resemble the Noctuids, both 
in the pupa and perfect state, and may easily be mistaken for them. 
The larvee, which often bear humps, tubercles and spines in many of 
the species, have but four pairs of abdominal legs used in crawling, 
the last pair being prolonged into tails or are held above the support- 
ing twigs while at rest. Some of the larvee are naked and others 
sparingly clothed with soft hairs. They feed on the leaves of trees 
and shrubs, often in great numbers, and their transformation usually 
takes place beneath the ground. 
Cerura borealis. 
Cerura borealis is a whitish moth, marked with brown bands 
across the upper wings, and is interesting from its peculiarly shaped 
Larva of Cerura borealis. 
larva, which has a forked prolongation or tail adapted from the last 
pair of abdominal lees. When disturbed it pushes out from the end 
of this forked tail two fleshy orange-colored filaments, which it bends 
over its back or sides as if to protect itself. This larva is naked, is 
green and purplish in color, and feeds on the poplar and choke- 
cherry ; its color is protective, and it looks while feeding on a leaf 
a dried and withered part of it. 
Clusters of a smooth, bluish, yellow and black-striped larva, with 
the head and a hump on the posterior end of the body, orange-red, 
