[45] Report of the State Entomologist. 187 



leaves," but as it is not stated that the caterpillar was identified by 

 Dr. Harris, it is not at all improbable that some other larva may have 

 been mistaken for it, although its remarkable appearance should pre- 

 vent its being confounded with any other. Mr. Hubbard seems to 

 have met with it in abundance in the orange groves of Florida and to 

 have had favorable opportunities for observing its habits, for he 

 informs us that he found it to display "the extreme of instinctive 

 sagacity in a device to which it frequently resorts when unable to find a 

 suitable place in which to weave its cocoon, in making itself more 

 satisfactory surroundings by killing the leaves, upon which, after they 

 have become dry, it places its cocoon." Mr. Hubbard states: " Several 

 of these caterpillars unite together, and, selecting a long and vigor- 

 ous immature shoot or leader of the orange tree, they kill it by cutting 

 into its base until it wilts and bends over. The leaves, in drying, 

 turn a light tan-color, which harmonize most perfectly with the hairy 

 locks of the caterpillar covering the cocoon." The above notes 

 of habit are apparently based on observations made upon numbers 

 of the caterpillar, and would almost indicate a social disposition 

 never observed in the northern States. 



Food-plants of the Larva. 

 I have had the larva, on different occasions, feeding on the apple, 

 crab-apple, and pear. One example was found by me, at Bath, near 

 Albany, feeding on hazel, Gorylus Americana. Dr. Harris states that 

 it occurs on forest trees, cherry trees, and apple trees in New England, 

 from July to September. According to Mrs. Dimmock, it is often 

 found on the white birch, Betula alba. Abbott gives persimmon [Dios- 

 pyros Virginiana] and the various kinds of oaks as its food. Other 

 food-plants given for it are plum, wild cherry, white and red oak, 

 and orange. To these, MS. notes of Miss Morton, kindly submitted 

 to me, add, sugar-maple (Acer saccharinum), ash, witch-hazel (Hama- 

 melis Virginica), and chestnut (Castanea). Larvae had been reared 

 by her from eggs found on chestnut and sugar-maple. Those from 

 the former grew more rapidly and attained larger size. 



The Cocoon. 



This caterpillar shows a disposition to spin itself up in its cocoon 

 at any time after its last molting, under the provocation of a tempo- 

 rary withdrawal from, or an imperfect condition of, its food, or pos- 

 sibly from confinement and exclusion from light. In almost every 

 instance in which it has been sent to me by mail, it had either inclosed 

 itself in its cocoon when received, or proceeded to do so the day 



