Plate XVIII. fig. 2.
ORDER: Lepidoptera. SECTION: Nocturna. FAMILY: Bombycidæ.
GENUS. SATURNIA, _Schrank. Latr._ Attacus, _Germar._ Phalæna (Bombyx),
_Linn. &c._
SATURNIA CECROPIA. Alis anticis subfalcatis, posticis rotundatis; omnibus
griseis fasciâ communi fulvâ maculâque reniformi ocelloque apicali (in
anticis) ornatis. (Expans. Alar. 6 unc. 6 lin.)
SYN. _Linn. Syst. Nat. v._ 2. _p._ 809. _No._ 3. _Cramer, Ins._ 4. _tab._
42. _f._ A. B. _Catesby Carol._ 86. _t._ 86. _Abbot and Smith, Ins.
Georgia, tab._ 45. _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ III. 1. _p._ 408. _No._ 4. _Gmel.
Linn. S. N._ 2401. 3. _Oliv. Enc. Méth._ 5. _p._ 25. 5.
HABITAT: New York (_Drury_). North America (_Linn. &c._).
_Upper Side._ Antennæ very broad, pectinated and black. The head is small
and red. Neck white. Thorax covered with long orange-brown hairs. Abdomen
alternately with broad stripes of white and orange brown, the latter
being edged behind with black. Anterior wings, with two bars crossing
from the anterior to the posterior edges, one at about three-fourths of
an inch from the shoulders, whitish, edged on the outside with black; the
other is orange, at about an inch distance from the external margin. The
base of the wing is a fine orange brown. The middle is deep rusty brown,
which, towards the upper part, is powdered with buff-coloured hairs. In
the middle of this is a large white spot verged with black, somewhat
resembling a kidney bean, and is broadly tinged behind with red brown.
The extremity of this wing, next the bar, is the same dark brown, and
powdered, having a black spot about {33}half an inch from the tip, having
within it a semicircular mark of a pearl colour. From this spot to the
anterior edge runs a serpentine line of white, bordered on the outer side
with red. Between this and the orange bar is a broad tinge of light
purple. The other side, next the tip, is light brown, stained with blood
colour. From the black spot to the interior angle runs a black serpentine
line, inclosing a space of dark buff, between which and the dark buff
margin is a light buff irregular streak. Posterior wings similar to the
superior, but the orange bar is redder and broader, running parallel with
the external edge, and is bordered on the inner side with white; the part
of the wing within this is deep rusty brown, with a larger white spot in
the middle, verged with black, and tinged behind with red brown. The
colour below the red bar is deep rusty brown, the border along the
external edge being of a dark dirty buff, whereon are two small dark
lines, having an irregular indented line of the same dirty buff above
them. The wings are entire.
_Under Side._ The markings on all the wings are more distinct, and
brighter than on the upper. The posterior wings, and the major part of
the anterior, being covered with dust-like buff hairs, except the spots
and buff margins round the edges. The posterior wings along the anterior
edges being verged with white, which becomes broader as it approaches the
shoulders.
The caterpillar of this fine moth feeds upon the wild American plum (Prunus
Pensylvanica), garden plum, &c. It is thick and fleshy, of a pale green
colour, with a pair of small blue spots on each segment, and with two rows
of short and setose yellow dorsal tubercles. One observed by Abbot, spun up
on the 17th of June, and the moth came out on the 30th of March following.
The cocoon is attached to a twig. The outside web is coarse, and the inner
covered with silk, like a silk-worm's cocoon. Abbot states that this silk
has been carded, spun, and made into stockings, and that it will wash like
linen. The species is, however, too rare to be of any utility in Georgia.
It is, however, much more abundant in the neighbourhood of New York, and
has been bred in England from some brought over in the chrysalis state. It
is difficult to rear it in confinement.