160 CERATOCAMPA IMPERIALIS. 



four to six inches, the female considerably larger 

 than the male. 



The caterpillar, which is well figured by Abbot 

 and Smith (vol. ii. pi. 55), varies very much in 

 colour, being sometimes, as these authors express it, 

 tawny like a negro, at other times orange and 

 tawny, and occasionally green. It has two short 

 rugose horns on each of the second and third seg- 

 ments, and some minute sharp points on the others, 

 from which pretty dense tufts of long rigid hairs 

 arise. There is a small yellow spot, surrounded 

 with a black ring, on the side of all the segments, 

 except the three immediately behind the head. It 

 feeds on the plane-tree (Platanus occidentalism Linn.), 

 likewise on the oak, liquid-amber, and pine. The 

 species breeds twice a-year, in June and September. 

 " The caterpillar," says Abbot, " went into the 

 ground September 16, and came out July 4th. The 

 caterpillars are not common, and are the most dim- 

 cult of all to bring to perfection in confinement, as 

 they will not eat in that situation ; and even if they 

 change into a chrysalis, they die afterwards." 



