233 ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



The cs«s are deposited on the twigs of trees in clusters, and are hatched in July. By the 

 first of September, or as late as the middle, the caterpillar acquires its full size, when it 

 measures about two and a quarter inches : it is naked, of a green color, and marked by 

 six or eight small dark warts, and is furnished with a pair of simple coral-red spines for 

 the second and third rings. There is a short spine upon the last ring but one, and the last 

 is furnished with about six short black bristles. 



The lilac seems to be the favorite shrub to which the promethcus attaches its cocoon, 

 which is about an inch hum. and gray like paper : it is attached longitudinally to a leaf, 

 that serves to protect and conceal it. 



This moth is one of the most common in and about Albany, some lilacs furnishing as 

 many as a dozen cocoons. The caterpillar, though not perhaps entirely harmless, yet in 

 this respect scarcely deserves attention. The large moths, appearing late in the season, 

 alter the leaves are fully grown, do not seem as injurious as they might be if they arrived 

 when the leaves were expanding and tender; and trees do not sutler so much from the 

 loss of foliage in the early autumn, as in the spring. 



Ceratocampa regalis ( Harris). Regal Walnut-?noth. 



"Antennte short, and, in the males, pectinated on both sides ; in the females, thread-like. 

 Wings without hocks : {brewings olive-colored, ornamented with several yellow spots, 

 and veined with broad red lines." 



This insect I have not yet seen : it is fully described by Mr. Harris, and, according to 

 his description, it is one of the finest and largest of our moths, having an expanse of wing 

 equal to six inches. The larva are spinous, but harmless ; that is, they do not sting when 

 handled. When fully grown, it is four or five inches long and three-fourths of an inch in 

 diameter, and of a green color banded with pale blue transversely*. It feeds on the walnut. 



The moth is said to appear in June, and is more rare than the Dryocampa bnperialis. 



From the old family of Bombycidje or Saturnians, Dr. Harris has separated the Cerato- 

 campa and Dryocampa, and a few others, and has constituted a new family under the name 

 of Ceratocampadje, after the name of the chief genus contained in it : the name signifies 

 horned caterpillars. On the second, and sometimes also on the third ring, these horns are 

 stiller, more rigid and curved, agreeing more perfectly with their definition as horns. 



All the species here referred to feed upon the leaves of forest-trees : they go into the 

 ground where they undergo their transformations, and this without making cocoons. The 

 chrysalides are notched or toothed, with the design of assisting their ascent from the 

 ground at the time just prior to their final and last change. 



• Harris : Injurious Insects of Massachusetts, p. 307 - 8, 2d edition. 



