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MELSHEIMER TO HARRIS. 



DOVER, YORK Co., PA., Feb. 14, 1842. 



The larvas, labelled Ag arista octomaculata, which you re- 

 ceived from me, are identical with specimens which produced 

 no other than that moth. It resembles indeed the larva of 

 Eudryas grata in its coloring and markings so much, that be- 

 fore I was acquainted with its manners, I have frequently taken 

 the one for the other, and was not aware of confounding them 

 until the moths were disclosed. If the larva in question was 

 that of Eudryas, my collection would certainly contain speci- 

 mens of the same ; but which is not the case, as it contains no 

 other than E. grata, and a doubtful one, your 69. The speci- 

 mens you received from me are not strictly naked, but sparsely 

 covered with short, minute, white hairs. In its manners it 

 differs in many respects from that of E. grata, particularly in 

 its mode of concealing and sheltering itself; for this purpose it 

 rolls a leaf in a conical, or rather globular form, in which it is 

 found rolled in a ring during the day ; but in the night, or in 

 cloudy weather, it feeds upon its temporary abode, or retires 

 from it, and feeds upon an adjoining leaf. When it is confined 

 it forms no shelter, and feeds at all hours. Like the larva of E. 

 grata, it feeds exclusively on the cultivated grape-vine, and, like 

 it, changes in the earth, but in what manner, I have as yet neg- 

 lected to ascertain. 



MELSHEIMER TO HARRIS. 



DOVER, Nov. 24, 1842. 



Among the Bombyces which I reared, was a specimen of the 

 beautiful, and hitherto to us, rare Dryocampa rubicunda. I con- 

 jecture that there must be two broods of the larva in the season 

 of its occurrence, as I captured two specimens of the larva? 



