STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
471 
skins and become chrysalids. But on examining several of these 
worms which buried themselves about ten days since, I find they 
are not yet changed to pupae. They have not inclosed them¬ 
selves in follicles or formed the slightest cavity in the earth 
surrounding them. They are lying with their backs upwards, 
and have become rigid and motionless, and are contracted to half 
their previous size, now measuring an inch in length and 0.38 in 
diameter. They are about two inches below the surface, and it 
is surprising that such thick-bodied, soft and flesh-like worms as 
these were, were able to penetrate earth which is so firmly com¬ 
pacted that it almost breaks the blade of a knife to open and 
pry it asunder in clods. 
The moths (plate 4, fig. 3) commonly measure from two inches to 2.40 
across the wings when spread. The fore wings vary from pale buff yellow to 
russet and auburn brown. They are crossed by four and sometimes five nar¬ 
row bands of a rusty or auburn brown color or blackish when the ground 
color of the wings is dusky, and their surface is more or less sprinkled over 
with rusty or blackish atoms. The anterior band is transverse and regularly 
curved like a bent bow, with its concave side towards the base of the wing. 
The other three bands arc parallel with the hind margin. The second, which 
is commonly slightly broader and more distinct than the others, begins on the 
middle of the inner margin and runs nearly straight three-fourths of the dis¬ 
tance across the wing, when it curves strongly forward to the outer margin. 
The third band is the most faint and is sometimes wholly wanting. It is par¬ 
allel with the second and is similarly curved at its outer end though in some 
individuals less strongly. The fourth band is half way between the third and 
the tip and is slightly bent like a bow through its whole length, its inner half 
being nearly parallel with the hind margin and its outer half gradually rece¬ 
ding from this margin. A fifth band sometimes occurs, situated slightly for¬ 
ward of this last one and parallel with it. Between the posterior band and 
the hind margin, commencing on the outer edge of the wing is an oblique rusty 
brown line, running obliquely inward and forward. Between the first and 
second bands, outside of the middle of the wing is often a dusky dot and back 
of it a transverse streak. The fringe of these wings is short and of the same 
color with the bands, and is edged with whitish on the apex. The hind wings 
are pale or whitish tinged more or less with tawny yellow or dusky. The 
hind edge of both pairs is entire and not in the least scalloped or toothed. 
Beneath they are paler, sometimes dull silvery white, sometimes dusky, at 
least on the forward pair. The head and fore part of the thorax is bright 
orange or tawny yellow, this color being deeper or brownish towards its pos¬ 
terior edge. The remainder of the thorax and the abdomen and legs partake 
of the color of the wings. The tongue or maxillae is almost the tenth of an 
inch in length, when extended upward reaching the base of the antennae, and 
is spirally coiled. The feelers or palpi are quite small, being only 0.05 long, 
and are appressed to the under side of the head, occupying the space between 
