THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 91 
of them can find food enough to enable it to arrive at 
maturity; so probably the strongest one devours its 
weaker brethren when food becomes scarce, or else 
they die from hunger. 
Description of the larva of Polyphemus. When fully 
grown this larva measures over three inches in length, and 
the body is very thick. The head is of a light chestnut 
brown color; the body of a handsome transparent light 
yellowish green, with seven oblique lines, of a pale yel- 
lowish color, on each side of the body; the segments are 
each adorned with six tubercles, giving rise to a few hairs, 
which are tinted sometimes with orange, with a silvery 
spot on the middle; there are six rows of protuberances, 
two on the back and two on each side, and the oblique lines 
run between the two rows of lateral tubercles uniting the 
lower one to the upper one by a yellowish line. The un- 
derside of the body is longitudinally striped with a faint 
yellowish band ; the spiracles are of a pale orange color, 
and the feet are brown. The posterior part is bordered by 
* apurplish brown angular line similar to the letter V. 
Description of the Pupa. The pupa is much of the form 
_ and size of a robin’s egg ; the color is dark chestnut-brown, 
7 Mr he Sa BE song te’ ere The : 
for sete T (Imig) atthe Syriopeta 
of Lepidoptera, by Dr. J. G. Morris*, only observing 
that there are at least six varieties : the yellow, the fer- 
ruginous, the brown, the greenish, the pale cream color,and 
another variety with the black lumule on the secondaries 
replaced by a ferruginous spot. The male can be — | 
*Published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
