THE SATURNIA 10 . 803 
rearing the caterpillars of this or of some other American 
species of Attacus, the cocoons of which were sent to him 
from New Orleans. The Cecropia does not hear confine- 
ment well, and is not so good a subject for experiment as 
the Luna and Polyphemus, which are easily reared, and 
make their cocoons quite as well in the house as in the open 
air. The following circumstances seem particularly to rec- 
ommend these indigenous silk-worms to the attention of 
persons interested in the silk culture. Our native oak and 
nut trees afford an abundance of food for the caterpillars ; 
their cocoons are much heavier than those of the silk-worm, 
and will yield a greater quantity of silk ; and, as the insects 
remain unchanged in the chrysalis state from September 
to June, the cocoons may he kept for unwinding at any 
leisure time during the winter. By a careful search, after 
the fallino- of the leaves in the autumn, a sufficient number 
of cocoons may he found, under the oak and nut trees, with 
which to begin a course of experiments in breeding the in- 
sects, and in the manufacture of their silk. 
Two more moths, belonging to the family undor consid- 
eration, are found in Massachusetts. They may be referred 
to the genus Saturnia* and are distinguished from the fore- 
going by their antennae, which are widely feathered only 
in the males, the feathering being very narrow in the other 
sex ; their caterpillars, moreover, are furnished with small 
warts crowned with long prickles or branching spines. None 
of the caterpillars described in the preceding pages are ven- 
omous ; all of them may he handled with impunity. This 
is not the case with the two following kinds, the prickles 
of which sting severely. The first of these begin to appear 
by the middle of June, and 
other broods continue to be 
hatched till the middle of July. 
These caterpillars (Fig. 188) 
live on the balsam poplar and 
* Tlio surname of Juuo, the daughter of Saturn. 
50 
Fig. 188. 
