122 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



eggs are deposited singly by the female upon 

 the leaves of the tree which she selects for 

 this purpose. No case is on record of the 

 larvfB ever swarming in such numbers, as 

 to do any material amount of damage to the 

 foliage of any tree ; but we regret to say 

 that those of another noble moth which is 

 closely allied to it, and which is a still more 

 general feeder, the Cecropia moth {Attacus ce- 

 cropia) sometimes inflict considerable injury 

 upon apple-trees, and, according to Mr. Perkins, 

 of Onarga, 111., upon one occasion stripped his 

 young tulip-trees {Liriodendron tuKpifera), 

 erroneously called "poplars" in many parts of 

 the West, completely bare of their leaves. 



The aatenniB of the Polyphemus Moth are 

 feathered in both sexes, but much more widely 

 in the males than in the females. Our figure 

 represents the male sex ; aud as will be seen at 

 once, the antennae might in this sex be readily 

 mistaken by an inexperienced person for a pair 

 of little bastard wings growing out of the head. 

 In that excellent new French periodical, Le 

 Naturaliste Canadien, (p. 22) will be found an 

 amusing account from the pen of the Editor, of 

 such a mistake having been actually made by a 

 certain Canuck. We cannot resist the tempta- 

 tion of translating here the whole story from 

 the original French, for the benefit of the Ameri- 

 can reader. 



"We must loolc in order to see; and in Natiu'ai llistory 

 perhaps, more than in any other department of know- 

 ledge, we must know how to look, in order not to be de- 

 ceived in our observations. One day one of our worthy 

 neighbours came to call upon us with a very self-satisfied 

 air. ' ' Oh, Sir,' ' says he, " I can show yovi — you who 

 are so fond of rare things — an insect such as you have 

 certainly never seen." " Take care : my collection is 

 pretty large." ' ' I have seen your collection, and you 

 have nothing like it. It is a butterfly with six wings!" 

 "A butterfly with six win^js?" " Yes, sir, with six 

 wings. Besides the four wings in the ordinary-places, 

 it has two little ones in addition on its head . It has a 

 body as stout as that of a middling-sized mouse, and 

 two large eyes in its hind wings. AH those to whom I 

 liave shown it say they have never seen anything like 

 it. But what Is most extraordinary about it is those 

 little wings on its head. What can be the use of them?' ' 

 Recognizmg without ti-ouble by means of this description 

 the insect that was referred to, we repUed, "You know 

 that butterflies are travelers, or rather navigators, in 

 the air. Ordinarily they have only four wings , which, if 

 you please, we may liken to the mainsails and topsails of 

 bur common sloops or cutters. Probably your butterfly, 

 having a longer voyage than usual to make, has found it 

 advantageous to add a foresail ; and I should not be at 

 all surprised If some other one took it into his head, some 

 fine day to hoist a jib ahead of his other sails, so as to be 

 still more complete. But in the mean time let us go and 

 see how yours is rigged out . " Our friend, who had re- 

 ceived our raillery with a self-satisfied air, because he 

 behoved that he should soon have his revenge, by the 

 stupefaction into which we should bo thrown by the 

 sight of his wonderful phenomenon, was quite put out 

 of countenance when, at the first glance that we threw 

 upon his insect, we recognized the male of our Poly- 

 phemus Moth, and invited him to come and see five or 

 six others just like it in our collection. He had mistaken 

 for wings the feathered antenn;c of that magnificent 

 moth, which are especially well developed in the male 



sex, and which he had not taken the trouble to remark 

 in the specimens in our cabinet. But far from wishing 

 to turn aside our young naturalist from his observations, 

 in consequence of this unfortunate residt of his first at- 

 tempt, W'e made him faithfully promise to examine well 

 all these little beings which are every day presenting 

 themselves before oureyes; assuring him that, although 

 he would never find insects with wings on their heads, 

 he would nevertheless find other wonderful things that 

 would interest him still more. 



"We repeat the same advice to .all our readers . Look I 

 observe ! examine ! and you will see wonders without 

 number unfold themselves before your eyes. 



It may be perhaps worth while to add, that 

 the males of a genus of Span-worm or Measur- 

 iiig-worm Moths, found in Europe but not hith- 

 erto discovered in America (Lobophora) , are 

 remarkable for their hmd wings being furni.shed 

 with a small membranous lobe, which gives 

 them the appearance of possessing an additional 

 pair of wings; and that, among the Feather- 

 winged Moths {Alucita family), each wing is 

 split more or less deeply into from two to six 

 feathered rays, so as almost to deceive one into 

 believing, that they really have about ten or 

 twelve wings, instead of only four. Of this last 

 group, one species {Pterophorus iieriscelidacty- 

 lus, Fitch) is quite common upon grape vines, 

 on the leaves of which the leaf-rolling larva 

 feeds exclusively, but seldom in such numbers 

 as to do any material amount of damage. 



WASPS AND THEIR HABITS. 



There are, at least, five himdred different 

 kinds, or species, of wasps found within the 

 limits of the United States, of the natural his- 

 tory of which, inasmuch as it is both interesting 

 and instructive, we now propose to give a 

 brief sketch. Much as some of these insects 

 resemble one another at first sight, yet their 

 structure aud their habits are often very differ- 

 ent; but, according to the general rule, where- 

 ever their structure is the same, it will be found 

 that their habits are nearly, or quite the same. 

 So that, in order to know what are the general 

 habits of a species that we may come across, it is 

 not usually necessary to find out the name of that 

 particular species, but only to ascertain to what 

 particular group it belongs. For, as with other 

 animals, species belonging to the same group 

 have the same, or nearly the same, habits. 



In common with all kinds of bees and ants 

 that have any sting at all, it is only the females 

 among the wasps that have stings, the males 

 possessing no apparatus of the kind. Almost 

 everybody, for example, knows that the drone 

 of the hoiie}-bec may be handled with perfect 

 impunity; and the drone is nothing but the 

 male of the honey-bee, as all bee-keepers are 

 well aware. Just so, all male -«Tlsps may be 



