SATURNIANS, CERATOCAMPIANS, ZEUZERIANS.
Platysamia (Attacus) cecropia, (Linn.), the Cecropia Emperor Moth, is found as a large cylindrical, pale green worm, three or four inches long, and as thick as one's thumb, and having two rows of pale blue, projecting points along each side, and two rows of pale yellow ones upon the back, with four larger, bright orange, or red ones anteriorly, all ending in little black prickles. The moth is large; its wings dark gray; each has a large white, crescent like spot in the centre, margined with red, and a red band crossing both wings. Appears in June; width five to seven inches.
There are others of this family of noble moths whose names have been indicated above, but they are not very destructive to the orchard.
Then come, in Dr. Harris' classification, the Zeuzerians, a group of moths which, like Ægerians among the Sphinges, pierce the roots and stems of trees. Among these is Xyleutes (Cossus) robiniæ, or the Locust-tree Boring-moth.
The Saturnians are a group of large, naked caterpillars, which are generally short, thick, clumsy, and cylindrical; they are leaf eaters, and some of them, when young, keep together in families, but separate as they become older, when they spin large silky cocoons sometimes among leaves, which they secure by silk to the twigs, sometimes attaching them to the stems and limbs, and at others at, or beneath, the surface of the ground. This group contains some of the largest and most beautiful moths, with large woolly bodies, and widely extended, highly colored and ornamented wings. They lay a great many eggs; some females deposit several hundreds. Still they are seldom so numerous as to commit serious devastations.
"Among these are the Telea Polyphemus, Tropæ aluna, Callosamia Promethea, Platysamia cecropia, (formerly known under the genus Attacus, which is now restricted to the immense A. Atlas, and another species of China), and the Euchronia Maia, and Hyperchiria varia, (formerly known under the genus Saturnia, which is now retained for several European species). The latter species, (H. varia), has been generally known among us under the name of Saturnia Io, but according to Dr. Packard, (who published 'a Synopsis of the Bombycidæ of the United States,' in the Third Volume of the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia), our species has been confounded by authors with Cramer's species 'Io,' from South America, and which belongs to a different genus."—[E.T. Cresson, Mss.]
These moths may yet become valuable for the production of a kind of silk, as they are enclosed in large cocoons, the fibres of which surpass those of the Silk-worm in strength, and might be employed in the formation of fabrics, similar to those manufactured in India from the Tusseh and Arrindy Silk-worms, the strength and durability of which are proverbial. Mr. Pullein, who experimented with the cocoons of the Cecropia found that twenty threads of this silk, twisted together, would sustain nearly an ounce more in weight than the same number of common silk.—(Vide Harris, pp. 295-303.)
Psychidæ are curious caterpillars, which, being naked, cover themselves during the larva state with a case that protects their bodies, though open at both ends, and which they carry about with them; these cases are made up of fragments of leaves, generally the stems and veins, which they connect together by threads of silk. The Germans call them Sack-bearers. Huebner called them Canæphoræ, or Basket-carriers, because the cases, often made of little sticks, resemble a basket. One genus is called Œceticus, or House-insect; and the common species, which, in some parts of the country, commits great devastation upon the leaves of trees, is called the Drop-worm, or the Basket-worm, in many places.
We have several genera and species belonging to this sub-family, the most common of which are the Thyridopteryx ephemeraformis, and Œceticus coniferarum. The best means for the destruction of this pest consist in persevering efforts for their individual destruction; each case should be cut or torn off in the winter, when they show very plainly upon deciduous trees; they may be crushed, but had better be committed to the flames.
The Notodontians are so called from a hump or horn, which rises from the top of the fourth ring of the caterpillar; the tail is always raised when the insect is at rest. One of these is called, from its horn, Cœlodasys (Notodonta) unicornis. Some species consume the foliage of our fruit trees, particularly the apple and quince; one of these, the Datana ministra, (the Eumetopona ministra of Fitch, or the Pygæra ministra of Harris), will be noticed below.