450 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



extends nearly across ; and there are two spots a little before the apex. The outer 

 edge is widely margined with brown. The hind wings are brownish, and the outer 

 half is crossed by two darker bands. The caterpillar feeds on clover, and when mature 

 is about an inch and a quarter in length. It is reddish brown, with many longitudinal 

 lines and stripes of a darker shade. There is a double whitish line along the back, 

 and a stripe of dark brown on each side. 



Ehodophora florida is one of the most lovely and interesting of the noctuids, and 

 is quite common at night about its food plant, the evening primrose. Its fore wings 

 expand about an inch and a quarter, and are bright pink or rosy red from the base to 

 the subterminal line, beyond which they are pale-yellow, like the flowers upon which 

 they feed. The hind wings are white. The eggs are dull yellowish pink, marked with 

 vertical strife, which run into each other before reaching the top. There is but one 

 annual brood in the northern states, and perhaps there are no more farther south. 

 This little moth is remarkable for its beauty, and for the habit of concealing itself in 

 the daytime, in the partially closed flowers of the evening primrose, in such a manner 

 that only the tips of its wings, which are of the same color, are visible between the 

 petals. The caterpillars are equally fond of the wild and cultivated species of (Euo- 

 thera, feeding not only on the petals but boring into the buds and young seed-vessels. 

 When not feeding they rest along the sides of the smaller stems, or in the seed-pods, 

 which they resemble so closely in color that they are not easily detected. 



The cotton-worm, Aletia argillacea, is distributed from Maine southward through 

 the United States, Mexico, and South America as far as Brazil. The fore wings of 

 the moth, which expand nearly an inch and a half, are light brown, tinged with olive 

 green and wine color. The reniform spot is black or grayish, and the usual lines 

 crossing the fore wings are wavy, and of a reddish color. The eggs are " circular, 

 much flattened, and marked with ridges radiating from the centre of the top." They 

 are about one-fortieth of an inch in diameter, of a beautiful bluish-green color when 

 first laid, but change to a dirty white before hatching, which occui-s in from three to 

 six days, according to the time of year. The young caterpillar is of a very pale green 

 color, with a pale-yellow head. After five moults it reaches maturity, being at that 

 time about an inch and three-fourths in length, of a light-green color, striped with 

 white and black, and spotted with black and jellow. In many individuals the black 

 stripes are wanting. After the caterpillar is done feeding it folds one edge of a leaf 

 over its body, by means of its silken threads, and then spins a delicate cocoon, in which 

 it transforms to a brown pupa. There are probably six or seven broods a year in the 

 extreme southern states, but farther north there are less ; while in the New England 

 states there is doubtless but one. This insect feeds upon the leaves of the cotton- 

 plant, and causes an immense amount of damage. Professor Riley has estimated that 

 during years of general prevalence of the cotton-worm they cause an annual loss of 

 thirty millions of dollars in the cotton-growing States. Its food plant in the north has 

 not yet been discovered. 



PyropMla pyramidoides of North America expands about an inch and three- 

 quarters. The fore wings ai-e dark brown, marked with dull white, the portion outside 

 of the transverse posterior line being much lighter than the rest of the wing. The 

 hind wings are pale copper red, with the aj)ex brown. The mature caterpillars are 

 nearly an inch and a half in length, whitish green, with a white stripe along the mid- 

 dle of the back, a bright yellow one along the lower part of each side, and a similar 

 but fainter one above, which follows the outline of the peculiar prominence on the top 



