424 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
is found in August and September on plum and apple trees, 
and, according to Mr. Abbot,* on the red-berried alder, 
Prinos verticillatus. The top of the fourth ring of this cat¬ 
erpillar rises in the form of a long horn, sloping forwards 
a little ; the tail, with the hindmost feet, which are rather 
longer than the others, is always raised when the insect is 
at rest, but it generally uses these legs in walking ; its head 
is large, and of a brown color; the sides of tlie second and 
third rings are green ; the rest of the body is brown, vari¬ 
egated with white on the back, and on it there are a very 
few short hairs, hardly visible to the naked eye. When 
fully grown, it measures an inch or more in length. Though 
mostly solitary in their habits, sometimes three or four of 
these caterpillars are found near together, and eating the 
leaves of the same twig. Towards the end of September 
they descend from the trees, and make their cocoons, which 
are thin and almost transparent, resembling parchment in 
texture, and are covered generally with bits of leaves on the 
outside. The caterpillars remain in their cocoons a long 
time before changing to chrysalids, and the moth does not 
come out till the following summer. There are probably 
two broods in the course of one season, for I have taken 
the moths early in August. In Georgia the caterpillar made 
its cocoon on the 30th of May, and was transformed to a 
moth fourteen days afterwards. This moth is the Notodonta 
unicornis^ or unicorn moth, so called from the horn on the 
back of the caterpillar. The fore wings are light brown, 
variegated with patches of greenish white and with wavy 
dark brown lines, two of which enclose a small whitish space 
near the shoulders ; there is a short blackish mark near the 
middle; the tip and the outer hind margin are whitish, 
tinged with red in the males ; and near the outer hind angle 
there are one small white and two black dashes ; the hind 
wings of the male are dirty white, with a dusky spot on 
the inner hind angle; those of the female are sometimes 
* Insects of Georgia, p. 171, pi. 86. 
