PH AL IENA P I T H E C I U M .
B A T - C A T E R P I L L A R MOTH,
D I OS PY R OS F I R G I N I A N A . L I N N
PERSIMMON, OR AMERICAN DATE PLUM.
P h . Bombyx elinguis, alis deflexis fufco-nebulofis : macula difci palmata : bafeos acutangula.-
T h is caterpillar eats Perlimmon and Oaks. I t is o f a very extraordinary fhape,
having a kind o f tufts growing on its back refembling wings or horns, the fub-
ftance o f wh ich it mixes w ith its web. I t fpun on the lo th o f Ju ly , and th e moth
was produced the 31 ft. This fpecies is found alfo in Virginia, b u t is very rare.
Stoll in his fupplement to Cramer gives the figure of this caterpillar precifely, tab. 18. ƒ. l,
as belonging to Cramer’s Hipparchia, 1. 185. f D; but that figure, if good for any thing,' cannot
by any means be our moth, and we have therefore given it a new name alluding to its
uncouth figure in the larva ftate. It is fo nearly akin to Ph. Cippus, that though the antennas ■
of the male are very little pectinated, we venture to place it among the Bombyces, efpecially •
as the ihape of its chryfalis, like that of Cippus, makes it what aurelians call an egger.