140 FIFTH REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
I. ana before laxt molt. — Body as in the adult, but smaller, and the hairs are thinner 
and looser and about twice as LoDg and very much finer. The body can be seen 
through them and the fine cottony hairs can be Keen to arise in dense verticils from 
small mammilla), which ace Borland white like the rest of the body, or pale tawny 
Oeherona, a bile all the thoracic segments bear slate-colored hairs above. Behind each 
Spiracle is an erect long conical acute tlcshy projection, concealed by the hairs; the 
eighth Segment has no such projection; the prothoracic spiracles are on the suture 
very near the inesothoracic segment, which have a similar but rounded and slightly 
chitinous projection in front of them. Length, 'JO 1 '""; breadth, lO""" ; height, 10 mm . 
(Compare also the full account of the transformations of this moth by Dr. Lintner, 
Ent. Coutr., ii, 138.) 
193. Lagoa opercularis (Abbot and Smith.) 
FlG. ii.- Lagoa opercularis, larva.— After Kiley. 
" 
Fig. 45. — Lagoa opercularis, cocoon.— After 
Hubbard. 
Fig. 46.— Lagoa opercularis, moth, natural 
size. — After Hubbard. 
The following account of this interesting insect is taken from Mr. 
Hubbard's Keport on Orange Insects: 
The caterpillars of this moth are covered with long, siljey hairs, underneath which 
are concealed shorter, stiff hairs, exceedingly sharp at the points and powerfully 
nettling when they penetrate the flesh. Upon some persons the invisible wounds 
made by these hairs produce swellings and an amount of irritation equivalent to a 
sting; the larvae are, in consequence, popularly supposed to be very poisonous. When 
young the caterpillars are white and resemble a flock of cotton wool. They undergo 
six molts, at one of the last of which they become darker, the color varying in indi- 
viduals from red-brown to light-clay color. 
Tht' cocoon is placed in a crotch of the tree or upon a branch of considerable size; 
it is 20 m,n (eight-tenths inch) long, oval, convex, flattened on the side next the tree, 
and fastened very firmly to the bark. The upper end is abruptly truncate, and fitted 
with a hinged trap-door, which is readily pushed open from within by the escaping 
moth, but does not yield to pressure from without, and is so accurately fitted that no 
tell-tale crack can be discerned. Upon the back of the cocoon is an elevation formed 
by the meeting of several folds and ridges, forming a marvelously exact imitation of 
a winter bud. The ends of a lock of hair from the body of the caterpillar counterfeit 
the down which in nature protects the dormant bud. The substance of which the 
cocoon is made is a tough parchment, composed of agglutinated silk, in which is 
felted the loug, hairy covering of the larva. Its color is a neutral brown, closely ap- 
proximating to that of the bark upon which it is placed. The entire arrangement is 
a most successful representation of the stump of a small branch broken off near its 
junction with the main stem, and upon which is plainly shown the swelling of a bud. 
Life-history. — The larva is a very general feeder, and although the oak appears to 
be its principal food plant, it is occasionally injurious to the orange. It never injures 
the bark or tender shoots, but subsists only on the mature leaves. 
There are two broods, one in early summer and the other in the fall. The larvae of 
the second brood form their cocoons in November or December, and in them pass the 
