426 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
gray, the head velvety black, and the body was clothed with numerous ash 
gray hairs of different lengths. 
rffler the second moult it was half an inch long and nearly cylindric, the 
head being scarcely any broader than the body. It was black and hairy’ the 
neck with numerous long hairs directed forward and overhanging the head, 
which was velvety black. A broad dull blue stripe extended along the back 
and a narrower wavy brighter blue one along each side, with several short 
curved blue lines between them. 
After the third moult it was three-fourths of an inch long, with yellowish 
white hairs, and stripes, &c., much the same as before. 
After the fourth moult it was 0.95 long, of a velvet black color with numer¬ 
ous yellowish or fox-colored hairs, with a white stripe down the back and nu¬ 
merous short crinkled white lines on the back and sides; a large black spot on 
each side of each segment, in the hind part of which spot was a transverse oval 
pale blue spot having an impressed line across it; a second pale blue spot in 
the crinkled white lines below the black spot. 
The full grown caterpillar is about two inches long and over a quarter of an 
inch thick, cylindrical, sixteen-footed, and thinly clothed with fine soft yellow¬ 
ish or fox-colored hairs of different lengths, the longest ones measuring a quar¬ 
ter of an inch. These hairs are rather more numerous upon the neck, where 
they project obliquely forwards, shielding in some measure the head, which is 
black and furnished with shortish black hairs. The body is of a deep black 
color. A white stripe extends along the back its entire length, commencing 
upon the second or the base of the first segment back of the head. In this 
stripe are numerous minute black dots. On each side of it are a number of 
short crinkled irregular longitudinal lines, of a yellow color, which become 
paler down upon the sides. Above the lowermost series of these lines is a row 
of transverse oval pale blue spots, one upon the middle of each segment. On 
the anterior side of each of these spots is a broader deep velvety black spot, as it 
appears to the naked eye, forward of which is a rather faint pale blue oblong spot 
or short stripe, reaching to the anterior margin of the segment. Lower down 
the sides are mottled with the same tint of pale blue coloring, interspersed with 
short crinkled pale yellow or whitish lines. The under side of the body and 
the legs are black, the soles of the prolegs white. The neck or anterior edge of 
the segment next to the head is also white, with two small somewhat square 
yellow spots above. 
Early in June, as these caterpillars approach maturity they 
lose their social habits and leave the trees on which they have 
been bred, wandering about and feeding upon whatever foliage 
they find that is palatable to them. Being now so large and 
well fed, they are able to travel considerable distances, and can 
sustain themselves on such a variety of plants that they incur 
little risk of suffering from hunger. For a number of days at 
this period they may be seen everywhere, on plants in our yards 
and gardens, or crawling along fences and upon the walls of 
buildings, and frequently entering our dwellings at the open 
