no. i. BOMBYCINE MOTHS OF NORTH AMERICA— PACKARD. 243 



into this country (1861) this insect has undergone a considerable change in color and wing form, 

 quite marked when compared with specimens from China. It is larger, deeper in color, and the 

 wings are much broader and more rounded, much less excavated below the apex."] 



[Geographical distribution. — The records of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 indicate the occurrence of P. cynthia auctt. in New York (Long Island) ; New Jersey (Jersey 

 City and Trenton); Pennsylvania (Philadelphia); District of Columbia (Washington), and 

 Virginia (Richmond).] 



[The type of Philosamia Grote is now given as P.walkeri (Feld.) = cynthia (Drury), vol. 2, 

 Plate 6, fig. 2. It is there stated as coming from China; also Cramer quotes Drury and figures 

 the same insect on PL XXXIX, fig. A, but the figure there given is slightly different from 

 Drury's which shows the pink fascia in hind wing to run outward along and each side of the 

 veins and giving a serrated outer edge to this fascia. Rothschild in Nov. Zool., vol. 2, 1895, 

 p. 37, holds this form (to which both Drury and Cramer give the habitat as China) to be the 

 true cynthia of Ja,ya. = insularis (VolL), and take walkeri (Feld.) to be the true Chinese insect. 



If, however, Cramer's and Drury's figures are trustworthy, the shape of the wings there 

 drawn is not insularis (VolL), neither are the colors; insularis (VolL) has the most angular wings 

 of any Philosamia and the pink fascia is almost straight across the wings on the inner edge. 

 The color is pale brown and very pale pink (not bordered with black, as Drury and Cramer 

 show) and the wings are very sparsely covered with scales. The outer margin of pink fascia 

 I have in specimens from western China and Hongkong showing this, but not so pronounced 

 as a pair from Hainan given me by Mr. Rothschild, which form more nearly resembles insularis 

 than any other of the mainland forms from Asia. Sumatran insularis agree with those from 

 Java. Speaking of cynthia, (Dru.) in the U. S. A., Prof. Smith in his Revision of Saturnidse, 

 Proc. U. S. National Museum, 1886, p. 417, says: "The moths emerge in the latitude of New 

 York late in June or early in July; in Washington two or three weeks earlier. There are 

 annual broods in these latitudes. 



"Since the date of its introduction into this country (1861) this insect has undergone a 

 considerable change in color and wing form, quite marked when compared with specimens from 

 China. It is larger, deeper in color, and the wings are much broader and more rounded, much 

 less excavated below the apex." This rounding is more noticeable in the male than the female, 

 but the color of both sexes has become yellowish green, not darker. The American naturalized 

 form may, however, be separated in all the New York and Philadelphia specimens which I 

 have seen by the glassy area, which is broader, and the inner yellow scaling is also broader. 

 The lunules are more arched. The only wild form approaching the American is canningi (Hutt.) 

 from Assam. — J. H. Watson.] 



Life history. 



The eggs were received from Mr. H. Meeske. The larvse were at first fed on the leaves of 

 the ailanthus, but when transferred to Brunswick, Me., ate freely of the wild plum. 



The egg. — Regularly oval-cylindrical, dull chalky white; the surface of the shell finely pitted, 

 but not arranged in wavy rows as in P. cecropia; the pits under a half-inch objective are near 

 together and slightly polygonal, and their walls project as little bosses on the inside of the shell. 

 Length, 2 mm., thickness, 1.4 mm. 



Larva. — Stage I: Hatched June 11. Described one day after hatching. Length 4-5 mm. 

 Head rather large, as wide as the prothoracic segment. The body gradually tapers from the 

 head to the tail, and is of a pale greenish yellow, the head dark chestnut, with a pale greenish 

 clypeus and labrum. The prothoracic segment is broad and somewhat flattened above, with 

 a dark chestnut-colored chitinous plate or squarish patch on each side, sometimes appearing 

 as widely separated by a pale greenish yellow clear median dorsal space; with four dorsal and 

 two lateral black tubercles; of the dorsal ones the two in the middle are slightly larger than 

 those outside, and larger than the lateral ones; they are also connected at their base by a slight 

 ridge. All the tubercles are much alike on all the segments, bearing from five to seven setae, 

 those on abdominal segments five to seven scarcely smaller than those on the thoracic. The 

 hairs or bristles are whitish, or rather colorless, four or five to seven on each dorsal tubercle; 



