118 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. vol. xn, 



a month or two thereafter showed the remaining ones to be dead. The great fatality was undoubtedly the result of 

 their indoor confinement under unnatural conditions. 



Observations appear to indicate that the insect passes the winter mainly in the pupal stage, and that only a few 

 moths emerge in the autumn of its first year. 



Habits of the moth. — This moth is one of the few species that may be seen abroad during the daytime. I have seen 

 it upon the wing at Center, N. Y., at midday of September 19, and in October. Its flight is peculiar, being rapid, in 

 a direct line for a short distance, and then suddenly dropping to the ground and hiding: so that it is almost impossible 

 to discover it, although the place of descent may have been carefully noted. 



In the breeding cage the moths manifested a degree of restlessness in marked contrast with the notable repose of 

 nearly all of the Bombycidce. They were disinclined to accept of any provision made for the suspended position required 

 for the expansion of their wings after emerging from the pupa. After their wings had fully expanded, usually within 

 an hour, they commenced traveling over the sides of their cage with such a continual fluttering that, unless they were 

 at once removed and pinned, the delicate scales were rubbed from their wings, and their beauty seriously marred. 



Rarity. — The moth is quite rare in the State of New York. It had not been taken by me during a period of 15 

 years' collecting. The number of its egg belts occurring at Center, without search having been made for them, would 

 indicate a greater abundance. Doubtless, its social habit in its earlier stages exposes it to destruction. On one occas- 

 sion I observed one of the carnivorous bugs, Podisus modestus, in the midst of and feeding upon a small company of 

 the larvae, with one impaled on its proboscis. The original number of the brood (110, as indicated by the egg belt) 

 had been reduced to 22, and in two or three days the last one would doubtless have been appropriated by the intrusive 

 guest of the colony. 



Geographical range. — This insect, although not abounding in any locality, is distributed over a large portion of the 

 United States. It extends from Maine southwardly, through each of the seaboard States, to Georgia; and westwardly, 

 through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, into Kansas: and probably onward, as a pale variety of it has been described 

 from Nevada as H. nevadensis. — J. A. Lintner.] 



[The records of the United States Department of Agriculture give the following localities 

 for H. maia: New York (West Point); Massachusetts (Marshfield); Ohio (Dayton); Illinois 

 (Richview) ; Indiana (Medaryville) ; Wisconsin (New Lisbon) ; Oklahoma (Glenwood) ; North 

 Carolina (Black Mountain) ; Georgia (Athens)]. 



[Pupation. — When ready to change to pupae the larvae of H. maia enter the ground and make 

 their way almost or quite to the bottom of the cage. They do not spin any cocoon, nor inclose 

 themselves in any way, but change to naked chrysalids. The latter are of the same dull brown- 

 black color and roughened surface as those of Automeris io, but they are proportionately much 

 more slender and elongate. — C. V. Riley, notes at United States Department of Agriculture.] 



[Larva. — The following appeared in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, XXXI (1893), p. 171.] 



Stage I compared with that of Automeris io. — In this stage maia is very similar to io; only the bifid dorsal tubercles, 

 or spines, have shorter branches, the spines themselves being a little shorter, while the longest bristle is longer, the other 

 bristles arising from the end of the spines being fewer, indeed, only one, instead of three or four, as in the abdominal 

 segments of io. The medio-dorsal spines on the eighth and ninth abdominal segments are much shorter and with a 

 shorter fork, but with as long or slightly longer bristles arising from the forks. The larvae of the two forms are of the 

 same size. 



Stage II (or III?). — Maia in what appears to be the second stage differs from A. io in its second stage in having 

 much longer dorsal spineB, with very much longer spinules. Thus the generic characters appear in the second stage, as in 

 A. io. 



[Larva. — Color, purple-black, covered with small pale yellow dots. Wide yellow band, 

 dotted with short black lines runs along the stigmatal region. It is covered with black com- 

 pound spines and tufts of bristles. On the first segment there are eight compound black spines, 

 four on each side; on the second, there are also eight, the two on the back springing from a bunch 

 of short black bristles. On the third, fourth, and fifth segments there are three compound spines 

 on each side and two tufts of short bristles on the back, yellowish brown on the outside and 

 black in the. center. On the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth segments there are but two com- 

 pound spines on each side with the two tufts on the back; on the tenth segment there are again 

 three spines each side with the tufts, on the eleventh two spines, and on the twelfth there is no 

 tuft of bristles, but seven spines, three on each side and one on the back. Head, chestnut- 

 brown, cervical shield of the same color. Thoracic feet black, prolegs chestnut-brown. Ven- 

 tral region same as the rest of the body, but somewhat paler. Length, 2t inches; diameter, 

 J^ inch. Feeds on the willows; prefers scrub willow. Found early hi July. — C. V. Riley, 

 notes at United States Department of Agriculture.] 



