193 
Although widely distributed, and a few are found every season, this 
is not a common insect. 
Callosamia promethea, Drury— The Prometheus Moth. 
This species of our native silk worm is also found in Illinois, 
though it seems to be less common in some localities than either of 
the species already mentioned, or the Cecropia. It has a wider range 
of food plants, having been found, by various persons, on most of our 
deciduous trees and shrubs, as well as upon pine and arbor vitae. The 
eggs laid by the moth on twigs, hatch from the last of June to the fore 
part of July, varying with the latitude. The caterpillars attain their 
growth m August or September, when they measure two inches or more 
in length, by half an inch in diameter. The caterpillar “is very 
plump, and but very little contracted on the back between the rings. 
It is of a clear and pale bluish green color; the head, the feet, and the 
tail are yellow; there axe about eight warts on each of the rings ; the 
two uppermost warts on the top of the second and of the third rings 
are almost cylindrical, much longer than the rest, and of a rich coral 
red color , there is a long yellow wart on the tip of the eleventh ring \ 
all the rest of the warts are very small, and of a deep blue color. Be¬ 
fore making its cocoon, the caterpillar instinctively fastens to the 
branch of the leaf that is to serve for a cover to its cocoon, so that it 
shall not fall offin the autumn, and then proceeds to spin on the up¬ 
per side of the leaf, bending over the edges to form a hollow, within 
which its cocoon is concealed.”—Harris. 
The two sexes of the moths differ somewhat in color and in the 
pattern of their marking. The wings of the male are longer and nar- 
rower than the female. In color they are smoky or amber brown, 
while those of the female are more of a reddish brown. Both sexes 
have a pale wavy line crossing the middle of the wings, and a pale 
clay colored border along the outer margin, and in both the basal half 
ol each wing is much darker than the other. Near the apex of the 
lore wings is an eye-like spot, black in its apical part, circled with 
pale blue on the side opposite, and with a zigzag white line from this 
eye spot to the apex. The female has a “pale angular spot, shaded 
outside with black near the middle of each wing, which is only oc¬ 
casionally faintly indicated on the underside in the male.” Anten¬ 
nae about twice as broad in the males as the females. The insect 
passes the winters in the chrysalis state, the moths issuing the follow¬ 
ing May or June. Expands four inches. 
Samia cecropia, Linn.—The Cecropia Moth. 
In our latitude few insects attract more attention from those unac¬ 
quainted with entomology than this magnificent moth. It is our 
largest species, some specimens expanding nearly seven inches. It 
issues from the cocoons, that have remained attached to twigs and 
other objects during the winter, in May, earlier or later as we go 
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