THE PROMETHEA MOTH, CALLOSAMIA PROMETHEA.
Herbert Osborn.
This beautiful moth is one of the rather common species belonging to the group of silkmaking Lepidoptera. The moths appear in May or June. The female is light rusty brown and drab with a darker area across the middle of the wings, while the males are much darker, nearly black, and differ further from the females in the shape of the wings and markings as shown in the figures.
Fig. 1. Callosamia promethea, female. (H. O. ad. nat. 1880.)
The eggs are laid in early summer almost immediately after pairing, and hatch in course of a few days, the larvae growing through the summer. The cocoons are hung to twigs of trees by a silken cord, and quite often a leaf is utilized as the outer covering within which the elongate oval cocoon is built. In any case the cocoon bears resemblance to a withered curled leaf hanging by its petiole. In this manner cocoons hang upon the trees through the winter.
They are found most commonly on wild cherry, this being apparently the favorite food plant of the larva. They feed however on a large number of common trees and shrubs.
Fig. 2. Callosamia promethea, male. (H. O. ad. nat. 1880.)
The figures of the moth, male and female, were drawn twenty one years ago, and having now come of age they may perhaps be trusted to make their first public appearance.