coo 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
Cocoons of the same kind are sometimes found suspended 
to the twigs of the wild cherry-tree, the Azalea, or swamp- 
pink, and the Cephalanthus, or button-bush, but not so 
often as on the sassafras-tree.- Two of them, hanging close 
together on one twig, were once brought to me, and a male 
and a female moth were produced from these twin cocoons 
in July, the usual time for these insects to leave their winter 
quarters. Drury called this kind of moth Prometliea, a 
mistake probably for Prometheus * the name of one of the 
Titans, all of whom were fabled to be of gigantic size. The 
color of Attacus Prometliea differs according to the sex. 
The male (Fig. 18G) is of a deep smoky brown color on the 
Fig. 180. 
upper side, and the female (Fig. 187) light reddish brown ; 
in both, the wings are crossed by a wavy whitish line near 
the middle, and have a wide clay-colored border, which is 
marked by a wavy reddish line ; near the tips of the fore 
wings there is an cye-like black spot within a bluish-white 
crescent ; near the middle of each of the wings of the female 
there is an angular reddish-white spot, edged with black ; 
these angular spots are visible on the under side of the wings 
* Allas was the brother of Prometheus, and this name, it will be recollected, 
lias been given to another of the Bpmbyces, an immensely large moth from China. 
