24 



the leaf, as seen in the figure, within which they change to slender brown chrysalids 

 about three quarters of an inch long, from which, in a short time, the perfect insect 

 emerges. 



Fig. 4. 



The beautifnl figure illustrating this subject was drawn from nature by Mr. Marx, 

 of Washington, and published in Prof. Comstock's Report, as Entomologist of the 

 Department of Agriculture, for 1879. Through the kindness of Dr. Loring, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture, we have been supplied with an electrotype of it. 



• The Poplar Dagger-Moth ( Acronycta lepusculina J. Guene^. 



The caterpillar of this moth is often 

 very destructive to poplar trees, and more 

 especially to the foliage of the cotton wood 

 tree in the west. It is, when full grown, 

 an inch and a-half or more in length, with 

 a black head, and its body clothed with 

 long, soft yellow hairs, from amongst 

 which arise along the back five long pen- 

 cils of black hairs. When at rest it curls 

 itself up on the leaf as shown in fig. 5. 



When full grown the caterpillar spins 

 a pale yellow cocoon of silk interwoven 

 with its own hairs, hidden in some 

 sheltered spot, and there changes to a 

 dark brown chrysalis, from which in due 

 time the moth appears. 



The perfect insect measures, when its 

 wings are expanded, about an inch and three-quarters across (see tig. 6). Its wings are 



• 



