arising from each segment. A pale, yellow line runs along each 
side of the body. The tips of the dorsal tubercles on the second and 
third segments are red; the remainder, yellow. Winter is passed 
in a cocoon, usually on the ground. Moths are present from April 
to September, depending on location. There may be two genera- 
tions per year in the South. 
The polyphemus moth, Antheraea (=Telea) polyphemus 
(Cram.), is widely distributed throughout the United States and 
Canada and feeds on many species of trees including basswood, 
beech, birch, elm, hawthorn, hickory, maple, oak, yellow-poplar, 
willow, ash, butternut, walnut, sassafras, and sycamore. The 
moth is brownish-yellow and has a wing expanse of 100 to 150 
mm. There is an eyelike transparent spot on each wing and a 
sooty, transverse stripe outwardly edged with light pink near the 
outer margin of the wings. Full-grown larvae are apple green in 
color and about 75 mm. long. The head is reddish-brown, and the 
thoracic shield is sometimes margined along the front with 
yellowish-green. Body segments are angular on the back, and each 
bears six orange or golden tubercles from each of which arise one 
to three bristles. The last segment bears a purplish-brown 
V-shaped design. Winter is spent in a tough, thick cocoon usually 
enclosed in a leaf on the ground. Larvae may be found from June 
to October. The tachinid, Lespesia frenchii (Williston), is a 
common parasite in the northeast. 
The io moth, Automeris io (F.), occurs throughout eastern 
United States and attacks a wide variety of trees including paper 
birch, wild cherry, black locust, aspen, willow, beech, apple, 
maple, oak, hickory, elm, mulberry, dogwood, and sycamore. Fe- 
male moths are purplish-red and have a wing expanse of about 
75 mm.; males are yellowish and slightly smaller. There is a 
large, circular, black eyespot with a tiny white center on the 
upper surface of each hindwing and a smaller but similar one on 
the lower surface of each forewing. Full-grown larvae are about 
75 mm. long. The body is pale green with a broad, reddish-brown 
stripe on each side, margined with white and reddish-lilac. 
Whorls of branched, black-tipped, green, poisonous spines rising 
from small conical tubercles on each body segment, cause a severe 
nettling effect when they come into contact with the skin. Moths 
are present from June to July; larvae from July to September. 
Winter is spent in the pupal stage, in a tough, brown, oval cocoon 
often covered with bits of dead leaves and other debris, usually 
on the ground. 
The buck moth, Hemileuca maia (Drury), occurs from New 
Hampshire to Georgia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, and it appar- 
ently feeds almost exclusively on various species of oak. Adults 
have black, thin-scaled, sometimes semi-transparent wings. A 
common white band crosses both the forewing and hindwing near 
the middle. Full-grown larvae are about 62 mm. long. The head 
is deep reddish-brown; the body, dull brownish to black and 
covered with small, yellowish dots. Each body segment has tufts 
of bristles or compound spines arising from tubercles. The spines 
cause a nettling effect when in contact with the skin. Winter is 
passed in the egg stage, and larvae are present from May to 
August. A common parasite in the Northeast is the tachinid, 
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