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FAMILY LACOSOMIDAE 
Adults of this family are stout-bodied moths with pectinate 
antennae. The forewings are falcate, bent at the middle, and 
heavy-veined. The humeral angle of the hindwing is much en- 
larged, and the frenulum is rudimentary. Two species are known 
to occur in eastern United States, neither of which is of economic 
importance. However, they both often attract attention. 
Cincinnus melsheimeri (Harr.), Melsheimer’s sack bearer, occurs 
fairly commonly on oak, especially scrub oak, from New England 
to the Lake States and southward. The adult is reddish-gray and 
has a wingspread of 37 to 50 mm. The body is sprinkled with 
minute black dots; each wing is crossed by a narrow blackish 
band and marked by a black discal spot or bar. A newly-hatched 
larva makes a shelter for itself by drawing two leaves together 
with strands of silk. Later on it constructs an ellipsoidal portable 
case of pieces of leaves and silk, leaving a circular hole at each 
end. It lives in the case but can leave it at will. To move the case, 
it bites off the strand of silk by which it is anchored and trans- 
ports it to the new location. When it is at rest the larva anchors 
the case with silk and stops the openings with its head and rear 
end. Winter is spent in the pupal stage, and adults appear during 
May and June. 
Lacosoma chiridota Grote feeds on oak throughout much the 
same range as the Melsheimer sack bearer. Adults are dark yel- 
lowish-brown, with deeply scalloped forewings and have wing- 
spreads of 25 to 30 mm. 
FAMILY LIMACODIDAE 
SLUG CATERPILLAR MOTHS 
Limacodid larvae are sluglike in appearance. The head is con- 
cealed in the thorax, the thoracic legs are small, and the prolegs 
are replaced by sucking disks. Pupation occurs in dense, brown- 
ish, oval silken cocoons spun between leaves or attached to twigs. 
Each cocoon has a hole covered by a lid at one end through which ~ 
the adult emerges. 
The saddleback caterpillar, Sibine stimulea (Clem.), is widely 
distributed in eastern and southern United States and feeds on 
a wide variety of trees and ornamental plants. The larva is 
brownish except for a green patch on the middle of the back which 
resembles a saddlecloth. In the middle of the back is an oval 
purplish-brown saddlelike spot. The body is armed along the 
sides with fascicles of poisonous spines, and has a pair of spiny 
tubercles at each end (fig. 182). 
The hag moth, Phobetron pithecium (J. E. Smith), feeds on 
various deciduous trees and shrubs. The larvae are brown, about 
10 mm. long, and each bears nine pairs of lateral brown processes. 
The third, fifth, and seventh pairs are long, curved and twisted, 
and are suggestive of the disheveled locks of a “hag.” These 
processes are clothed with stinging hairs. 
The oriental moth, Cnidocampa flavescens (Wlkr.) (fig. 183), 
an introduced species first recorded in this country near Boston, 
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