THU 



VOL. 1. 



ST. LOUIS, MO , MARCH, 1869. 



NO. 7. 



CIjc l^imrkait ^ntoniobgist. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 

 H. F. STXTIDLE^ST &; CO., 



104 OLIVE STREET, ST. LOUIS. 



TERMS One iloUai- jicr annum in advance. 



EDITORS : 



BE.\J. D. WALSH Rock Island, m. 



CILVS. V. KILET, 2130 Clark Ave St Lonis, Mo. 



THE POLYPHE.MUS MDTH. 



(Att'iciis Poli/phciai's. Liiui.) 



We present herewitii a life-size sketch (Fig. U.j) 

 of this inagiiilicciit moth, which has been rc- 



sillc cannot bo readily reeled oft", as witli tlie 

 old-fashioned Silkworm {Bomhyx mori), from 

 the cocoons. Another trouble is that, as we 

 learn from Dr. Ilagen of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., a certain 

 parasitic fungus has been recently introduced 

 into New-England from Europe, which is mak- 

 ing great havoc among the larv£e of this and 

 otlier 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 

 llcshy 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. 



ccntly dubbed the " American »Silkworm,'' from 

 the fact that Mr. Trouvclot, of Massaclinsetts, 

 succeeded in rearing it in very large numbers, 

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

 The practical difficulty, however, M'ith this, as 

 with a closely allied species from Asia, the Ail- 

 anthus Silkwoi-m {Atlarus c.ynthia) is, that the 



butternut and thorn. It attains its full growth 

 in August and September, and thereupon spins 

 among the twigs of the tree wliich 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 May or June, shortly after which the 



