The JYcitiiralists’ Companion, 
The Cecropia Moth. 
(PLATYSAMIA CECROPIA.) 
BY GEO. H. BERRY, LIVERMORE, MAINE. 
This is one of our largest moths, and 
belongs to the genus bombyx. My first 
acquaintance with it was made in the 
spring of 1882, when I found a moth 
laying her eggs on a small apple tree. 
I looked for the larva" several times dur¬ 
ing the summer, but without success. I, 
however, found several on other trees, 
and in the fall, a couple of cocoons on 
this same tree; from these I raised a 
couple of fine moths. During ’83 and 
’84 the Cecropia were very abundant. 
I collected about three hundred cocoons 
from the road-sides, edges of the woods, 
apple trees, etc. From these 1 raised 
thirty-four perfect moths; the remainder 
afforded me specimens as follows: Two 
needle ichneumons, (pelecinus poly- 
cerator); twenty orphion macrurum, 
ten ORPHION BILINEATUS, forty TROGUS 
EXCESORius, an a large number of an 
ASiLUS fly species unknown to me ; there 
were also a large number of microgas- 
TERSthat I did not attempt to determine. 
I was surprised to find pelecinus as a 
parasite on the Cecropia, as the only 
one I ever raised before was from a white 
grub, (lacknosterna fusca). During 
’85 I only saw one moth and I expect 
for a number of years they will be ex¬ 
tremely rare. 
The eggs are deposited directly on 
the leaves or twigs, usually one or two 
in a place, and seldom more than a 
half-dozen on a tree. They are nearly 
an eighth of an inch in length, bluish- 
green when first lain, but changing later 
to a dull yellowish-white. Their size 
makes them conspicuous, and as a con¬ 
sequence a large numbei are eaten by 
the birds. 
The full-grown caterpillar is nearly 
four inches in length, green in color, 
with from two to eight tubercles of red, 
blue, green and yellow on each segment. 
These are usually set with short, black 
spines. 
The cocoon is firmly attached to a 
twig, usually on the south side of the 
tree; is pale brown in color, purse shap¬ 
ed, and is completely watei proof. 
Within this is a second envelope, oval 
in shape, and is attached to the outer 
by numerous threads. The jmpse is 
dull black, without gloss, and soft to 
the touch. Many cocoons are destroy¬ 
ed by both squirrels and birds. 
The moth is nearly six inches in alar 
extent, and is one of the most beautiful 
of our native lepidopteia. The ground 
color of the wings is a reddish-brown, 
the edges being surrounded with an ir¬ 
regular wavy border of light and dark 
drab. About three-fourths of an inch 
from the edge is a line of white, edged 
and shaded with red, and in the center 
of each wing a crescent shaped spot of 
white, shaded with red and bordered 
with black. At the outer angle of the 
front wings is a circular spot of black, 
edged by a crescent of blue, and sur¬ 
rounded by a patch of red and blue 
shading. Where the fore wings are at¬ 
tached to the body there is a triangular 
spot of red, edged with white. Body, 
red, striped with white ; antennae, feath¬ 
ered ; legs densely covered with reddish 
hair. I have had three of four in which 
the ground was nearly black and the 
markings pure white ; the entire moth 
lacking the red shading. 
They feed on maple, oak, apple, 
cherry, thorn, sumac, willow, and I have 
found them on juniper and cypress. 1 
