THE 



^^JMIL^^^^^^^ 



VOL. 1. 



ST. LOUIS, MO , MARCH, 1869. 



}. V, 



CIjc l^merkatt ^nt0nTDl00ist. 



PUBLISUED MONTHLY DY 



H. F. SXXJDLE-ST Sz CO., 



104 OLIVE STREET, ST, LOUIS. 



EDITORS : 



bEN.r. D. WALSH Rock Islauil, 111. 



CII.VS. V. lULEY, 2130 Clark Ave St. Louis, Mo. 



THE POLYPHEMUS MOTH. 

 (Atl"C"S I'ohlpheuiKs, Linn.) 



Wo in-escut herewith a life-size sketch (Fig. i>u) 

 111' this iiiagnifieciit moth, which has been re- 



silk cannot bo readily reeled off, as with the 

 old-fashioned Silkworm (Bombi/x mori), ft-om 

 the cocoons. Another trouble is that, as we 

 learn from Dr. Ilagen of the Musenm of Com- 

 parative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., a certain 

 parasitic fungus has been recently introduced 

 into New-England from Europe, wiiich is mak- 

 ing great havoc among the larvoe of this and 

 other large moths belonging to the same group, 

 just as another parasitic fungus has for many 

 years back decimated the old-fashioned Silk- 

 worms in Europe. 



The larva of the Polyphemus Moth is a large 

 fleshy apple-green caterpillar as big as the thumb 

 of a stout man. We have ourselves found it 

 upon oaks and hickories, and it is said to 

 occur sometimes on elm, basswood, walnut. 



ceutly dubbed the " American Silkworm," from 

 the fact that Mr. Trouvelot, of Massachusetts, 

 succeeded in rearing it in very large numbers, 

 so as to obtain whole wagon-loads of its cocoons. 

 The practical difficulty, however, with this, as 

 with a closely allied species from Asia, the Ail- 

 anthus Silkworm (A/lnc/ts t-ynlhi'a) is. that the 



butternut and thoru. It attains its full growth 

 in August and September, and thereupon spins 

 among the twigs of the tree which it inhabits a 

 tough pod-like oval cocoon, enveloped in leaves 

 and composed of a brownish white silk. The 

 moth usually bursts forth from the cocoon in the 

 following Mav or June, shortlv after which the 



