92 
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
larger and tougher ones as they grow in size and strength, often 
stripping whole acres of forests of their leaves. When not feeding, 
the caterpillars congregate in immense clusters, bending down the 
smaller twigs with their weight. They are dark brown or black in 
color, with dark ochreous yellow stripes on their sides and back, and 
are armed with short spines on each segment, and two horns on the 
segment next the head. They are stiff, hard and rough when fully 
grown, and during the early part of September crawl down the trees 
and burrow five or six inches into the ground, where they remain in 
the pupa state during the winter. The chrysalis is hard and spiny ; 
and when the moth is about to break the shell it works its way to 
the surface, where the empty case may be found protruding from the 
ground after the insect has flown. The female moth expands two 
and a half inches, and is of an ochreous yellow color, with a reddish 
cast, tinged slightly with purple along the outer margin of the fore 
wings. The upper wings are stippled with faint brown spots and 
have a small white dot near the centre. The male is much smaller 
than the female. Its wings look small in proportion to its body and 
are purplish-brown, darker toward the tips of the fore wings, which 
have a white spot in the centre. 
Anisota stigma is not nearly so common an insect as the preceding 
species, and I have never seen it abundant. The habits of the cater¬ 
pillar are similar to those of A. senatoria ; but it is much lighter in 
color, being a tawny orange with dark stripes on its sides and back. 
Its spines are also longer. The female moth very much resembles 
A. senatoria , but is richer and more reddish in coloring, with larger 
spots of dark brown or black on its wings. The male is more like 
the female in color than is the male of the other species, and has a 
large white spot in the centre of the fore wings. The wings are also 
spotted with dark brown. This insect varies a good deal in the in¬ 
tensity of its coloring. Especially is this the case with the male, 
which is sometimes almost red. The male expands an inch and 
three-quarters and the female nearly three inches. 
In Anisota virginiensis the scales are thinly scattered over the 
wings, so that they appear almost transparent. The female is more 
purple than the other two species, and lacks the sprinkle of brown 
spots. The male is small and purple-brown in color, with a scaleless, 
transparent patch in the middle of each of the wings. This insect I 
have never found abundant. The female moth is about the size of 
A. senatoria , but the male is smaller than tire male of that species. 
