396 



LEi-IDOPTEKA. 



line, and on tlie middle of the wing a large round blue spot, 

 having a broad black boi-der and a central white dash. The 

 fore wings of the female (Fig. 192) are purple-brown, min- 



Fig. 192. 



gled with gray ; the zigzag and wavy lines across them are 

 gray, and the lettered space in the middle is replaced by 

 a brown spot surrounded by an irregular gray line ; the 

 hind wings resemble those of the male in color and mark- 

 ings ; the thorax and legs are purple-brown ; and the abdo- 

 men is ochre-yellow, with a narrow purple-red band on the 

 edge of each ring. These moths expand from two inches 

 and three quarters to three inches and a half. 



The other Saturnia, inhabiting Massachusetts, is the Maia* 

 (Fig. 193) of Drury, or Proserpina^ of Fabricius. The 



Fig. 193 



moth probably rests with its wings closed, like the lo moth, 



* Maia, in mythology, was one of the seven daughters of Atlas ; they were 

 placed in the heavens after death, and formed the constellation called Pleiades. 

 t Proserpina was the wife of Pluto, the god of the infernal regions. 



