224 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. vol. xii, 



[SAMIA COLUMBIA NOKOMIS (Brodie). 



Originally described as Platysamia Columbia nokomis in "The Biological Review of Onta- 

 rio," October, 1894 (cf. Canad. Entom., 190S, p. 354). The early stages are described by W. J. 

 Freedley, jr., in Canadian Entomologist, XL (1908), pp. 350-354. Dr. James Fletcher (litt. 

 to Dr. Packard, 1900) thus refers to nokomis i\ 



There is a form found all through Manitoba and the west as far as the Rocky Mountains, 

 shaped exactly like Columbia, and which passes under that name, but it is a much redder and 

 handsomer bisect, as red as gloveri all over the disc, and very much the same tone, but of the 

 same shape and size as true Columbia. * * * The larva feeds on Elaeagnus argentea [i. e., 

 Leparggraea argentea (Nuttall) Greene]; "75 to 80 per cent of the larvae, mdess collected very 

 young, are attacked by a tachinid fly." — (E. F. Heath, litt., 1901.) 



SAMIA CALIFORNICA (Grote). 

 Plate X, figs. 2-5; XI, fig. 1; LI, fig. 5; LVIII, figs. 3, 4. 



Saturnia ceanothi Behr, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 147, 1855. 



Saturnia euryalus Boisduval, Ann. Ent. France, III, 2 ser., XXXII, 1855 (no descr.). 



[Platysamia] californica Grote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., V, 229, note, 1865. 



[This species is now generally known as Samia rubra (Behr), Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., I 

 (1855), p. 46. This name has priority over ceanothi and californica.] 



Imago. — Three d 1 , five 9 . Size small, about that of S. Columbia. Male antennae large 

 and with long hairy pectinations, slightly larger than those of S. cecropia; in the female toward 

 the end the distal lower pectinations are one-half as long as the proximal ones; in color reddish 

 brown. Body and wings quite uniformly light brick-reddish madder-brown, less purplish mad- 

 der than in S. gloveri. Prothorax white; rest of the thorax and abdomen reddish brown, not 

 showing the different shades of color seen in S. Columbia and gloveri; S abdomen scarcely or 

 not banded with white above, but with a white lateral line, and whitish beneath. 



Fore wings as falcate as in S. gloveri. Basal line distinct, broad, white, bent or curved 

 on the median vein, either with ( <? ) or without ( 9 ) a black edge on the outside. Extradiscal 

 line straight or slightly sinuous, being a little curved outward opposite the discal spot and 

 very slightly curved inward behind the discal spot. It is slightly scalloped, varying hi degree 

 of scalloping. All the wing within the extradiscal line is uniformly of a warm subochreous, 

 pale madder-brown; but beyond, two-thirds of the way to the outer edge it is a rich subroseate 

 pale madder-brown, and in the Oregon S it is pale purple madder. Subapical ocellus round 

 or elliptical; the blue semicircle distinct, rather short or tending to disappear; in one 9 it is 

 only present on the costal side of the spot, and in another it is still smaller, on the verge of 

 disappearing. Apical spot black, edged with red, and from its inner end proceeds the zigzag 

 white line with the scallops of the same size as in S. gloveri. The area of the wing within this 

 line is washed with lilac and white scales. 



The discal spots vary much in shape and size, but those hi the hind wings are inclined to 

 be longer, narrower, and more produced than in S. gloveri or any of the other species, hi one <? 

 reaching the extradiscal line. Those of the fore wings either wide or narrow and parallel with 

 the extradiscal line, or oblique and parallel wath the costa, while the ends are much attenu- 

 ated — drawn out into a white thread. The following measurements will indicate the varying 

 size and shape: One 3 , discal spot of fore wing, 10 by 3 mm.; one 9 , 7 by 3 mm.; another 

 ( 9 ), 9 by 4 mm. Discal spot of hind whig hi one 9 , 15 by 3 mm.; and hi another 9 , 12 by 

 5 mm. 



The series of dark blotches situated half way between the extradiscal line and the outer 

 edge of the wing, present in S. cecropia and Columbia, is wanting in S. californica, but in one 

 o" it is hi part represented by a series of triangular pale brown madder scallops of the outer 

 edge of the submarginal pale reddish madder shade. The edge of the wing beyond is pale 

 Vandyke brown. The submarginal distinct black-brown line is scalloped, as in S. gloveri, but 



