No. 1. 



BOMBYCINE MOTHS OF NORTH AMERICA— PACKARD. 



121 



[In Dyar's list californica Wright and artemis Packard appear as synonyms of H. nevadensis 

 Stretch, which is given as a valid species.] 



Geographical distribution. — Nevada [Chino, Cal. (nevadensis); Dep. Agric. MSS.] Las 

 Cruces, N. Mex. (Cockerell, Townsend); also in the Mesilla Valley, N. Mex., "Middle Sonoran 

 Zone" (Cockerell). [These New Mexico records refer to the form H. artemis Packard.] 



[Prof. M: H. Swenk (litt. July, 1912) states that H. nevadensis is rather abundant in Sioux 

 County, Nebr., where it has been collected and bred.] 



[The original account of H. artemis, in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., XXXI, pp. 172-173, is as 

 follows :] 



Hemileuca artemis sp. nov. One ? with wings not fully expanded. At first doubtfully referred to H. juno, I find 

 on comparison with my types in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge that it is quite different. The head 

 and body are larger. The thorax is much more white, both on the prothorax and on the patagia, which are entirely 

 white. The disk of the mesothorax is brown; the two tufts, one on each side behind, are orange-red, instead of claret- 

 red, as in juno, and the hairs between the forelegs and those on the fore femora are of the same deep orange-red as the 

 thoracic tufts. Juno has more reddish hairs on the end of the abdomen, where they are all white in artemis. The 

 fore wings are white, with a black-brown border all around, completely inclosing the entirely opaque black-brown 

 discal spot, which, in the unexpanded specimen, does not inclose (as it does in juno) a lunate white spot. The blackish 

 costal edge is as wide as the outer edge. The hind wings are apparently much as in juno and in grotei. It does not 

 agree with the description of grotei (Trans. Amer. Knt. 

 Soc, II, 192, PI. II, fig. 60, 1868). 



Several full-grown larvae werereceived from Las 

 Cruces, N. Mex., kindly sent me June 15, 1S91, by- 

 Mr. C. H. Tyler Townsend; they were found feeding 

 on a species of long-leaved willow, and on a Populus. 

 Mr. Townsend writes regarding these caterpillars: 



"I am informed that in previous years this cater- 

 pillar has been extremely abundant here, almost 

 denuding the cottonwoods (P . fremontii) . They are 

 said to appear in force later in the season. I rather 

 doubt this, but will look out for more." 



Mature larva. — Length 45 mm. The body is 

 long and thick, of the general shape and thickness of 

 Automeris io, rather than of H. inaia. Head dull 

 shining red, about half as wide as the body in the 

 middle. Segments of the body each with an irreg- 

 ular, deeply impressed, transverse wrinkle, just 

 behind the middle. A moderately large prothoracic 

 plate, which is irregular in sha'pe and divided in the 

 middle into two pieces; it is dull reddish honey yellow or chitinous in color. On the prothoracic segment are eight 

 large, high -branched spines, as large as any of the others on the body behind; they are black, with the spinules black 

 at base, pale flesh color beyond; the terminal bristles are dark; there are about 16 to IS spinules on each spine, nearly 

 as in H. maia, and the prothoracic spines of A. io. The spines on the second thoracic segment are similar in shape and 

 length to those in front, but slightly shorterand with a smaller number of spinules toward the end. On the third thoracic, 

 to and including the seventh abdominal segment, the two rows of dorsal spines are like those of A. io behind the 

 prothoracic segment, being short, thick, bushy spines, with numerous radiating, yellow spinules, which are black at tip. 

 On the eighth segment there is a single, slightly larger one, with two central spines, one on each side. Those on the 

 ninth segment are like the prothoracic ones, the median one being of the same size as the lateral ones. There are no 

 spines on the tenth or last segment. There is a subdorsal and an infraspiracular row of spines like those on the first 

 thoracic segment along the sides of the abdomen, but on the thoracic segments are two rows of infraspiracular spines. 

 There is a rather large, broad, V-shaped or short subcordate plate on the tenth segment of the same color as the pro- 

 thoracic plate, and a bristly, concolorous plate on the outside of the anal legs. 



The body is smooth, without the granulations of H. maia and without the lateral reddish band of A. io. The body 

 is pale, sea-greenish, with irregular brown spots and slashes in the spaces between the spines of the subdorsal rows, 

 and they also occur lower down near the spiracles, which are yellow, edged with dark brown. Thoracic legs dark 

 honey-yellow; abdominal ones washed with cherry reddish. 



The eversible glands were not everted in any of the six specimens, but their position is indicated, as in E. maia, 

 by an irregular oval, liver-colored patch behind the first thoracic and eighth abdominal spiracles. 



Figure 9 represents the dorsal spines of the three thoracic segments, respectively. I, one of the dorsal prothoracic 

 spines, in which the spinules, with long setas, are scattered along the whole length of the main trunk; II, one of the 

 dorsal spines of the second thoracic segment, surrounded at the base by a dense thicket of acute spinules, the latter not 

 bearing a terminal seta; III, a dorsal spine from the third thoracic segment, forming a short, broad tuft or clump of 

 nonsetiferous, but acute spinules, the clump having a broad base, from near the center of which arises a long spinule, 



Dorsal spines of three thoracic segments of larva of Hemileuca artemis. 



