165 



ders) ; Brunswick, Me., July, abundant during certain years (Packard) ; 

 White Mountains, New Hampshire, early in Augusl (Packard) ; sides of 

 Mount Washington, July (Morrison) ; Essex County, Vermont, July (Cas- 

 sino) ; Brookline, Mass., June 25— July 11 (Shurtleff) ; Cambridge, Mass., 

 July 1 (Harris Coll.) ; Springfield, Mass., June 18 (Dimmock) ; Buffalo, N. 

 Y. (Grote); Oneida, N. Y. (Hawley); New Jersey (Sachs); Michigan (Mus. 

 Peab. Acad Sc.) ; Kenosha House, Colorado, June 80 (Mead) ; Alaska, com- 

 mon (Dall); "Vancouver's Island; St. Martin's Falls, Hudson's Bay; Canada, 

 Nova Scotia; East Florida'' (Walker). 



This fine moth is the largest species of the genus, and may he distin- 

 guished by its sable hues and the conspicuous white lines and bands. Our 

 American examples do not differ specifically from European ones; and I am 

 inclined to regard R. hastulata Hiibn. and thulearia Staud. (received from 

 Lapland through Dr. Staudinger) as varieties of this variable species. 



The Old World localities given by Staudinger are: Central and Northern 

 Europe (excluding ?Galicia and the polar regions); Piedmont; Ural and 

 Altai Mountains; and Amur. 



Larva. — "The head of the caterpillar is of moderate size; the body, 

 when at rest, almost straight; the head not tucked in, and hence'the anterior 

 part of the body not involute; the second segment is covered with a shining 

 plate; the other segments regularly and transversely wrinkled, and of a texture 

 like leather; the tenth segment is rather the largest, and from that the larva 

 tapers slightly to both extremities; the color of the head is black and shin- 

 ing ; the body is generally black, but sometimes rich black-brown ; on each 

 side is a continuous series of minute black dots, which form a slender lateral 

 stripe along all the segments except the second and thirteenth ; this stripe is 

 above the spiracles ; the spiracles are black, and each is enclosed in a white 

 spot, and below each white spot is a crescentic white marking, the convexity 

 of which is toward the belly, the cusps toward the back ; above the slender 

 lateral stripe already described, there is sometimes an interrupted subdorsal 

 stripe. All these markings vary occasionally from white to brick-dust red. 

 It feeds on birch [Betula alba) and sweet-gale (Myrica gale). The economy, 

 habit, structure, and distribution of color in the caterpillar of Melanippe 

 hastata are entirely different from those of any other of the genus Melanippe. 

 Jt spins together the leaves of its food-plant, and feeds from the inside of the 

 chamber thus formed; some! imes eating through the substance of the leal, 



