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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.