350 



LEPIDOPTEKA. 



of the same color between each of the segments or rings, and 

 it is covered with long pale yellow hairs. Others are often 

 seen of a rusty or brownish yellow color, with the same black 

 lines on the sides and between the rings, and they are clothed 

 with foxy-red or light brown hairs. The head and ends of 

 the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under side of the body 

 is blackish in all the varieties. They are to be found of 

 different ages and sizes from the first of June till October. 

 When fully grown they are about two inches long, and then 

 creep into some convenient place of shelter, make their co- 

 coons, in which they remain in the chrysalis state during the 

 winter, and are changed to moths in the months of May or 

 June following. Some of the first broods of these caterpil- 

 lars appear to come to their growth early in summer, and are 

 transformed to moths by the end of July or the beginning of 

 August, at which time I have repeatedly taken them in the 

 winged state ; but the greater part pass through their last 



change in June. The 

 moth (Fig. 168) is fa- 

 miliarly known by the 

 name of the white mil- 

 ler, and is often seen 

 about houses; Its sci- 

 entific name is Arctia 

 Virffimca,™ and, as it 

 nearly resembles the insects commonly called ermine-moths * 

 in England, we may give to it the name of the Virginia 

 ermine-moth. It is white, with a black point on the middle 

 of the fore wings, and two black dots on the hind wings, one 

 on the middle and the other near the posterior angle, much 

 more distinct on the under than on the upper side ; there is 

 a row of black dots on the top of the back, another on each 

 side, and between these a longitudinal deep yellow stripe; 

 the hips and thighs of the fore legs are also ochre-yellow. 



[!8 Arctia Virginica belongs to the genus Spilosoma. — Morbis.] 



* It is most like the Arctia UrticcB, but is of a much purer white color. 



Fig. 168. 



