THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 197 



A NEW SPECIES OF CERURA. 



BY GEORGE H HUDSON, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, PLATTSBURGH, N. Y. 



Cerura modesta, n. sp. 



Male. — Front and vertex nearly white. Collar a little darker, tinged 

 with a faint creamy yellowish-brown. Thorax dark steel-blue, almost 

 black, with metallic purplish reflections, the orange scales forming so 

 marked a feature in other species either entirely absent or with but a faint 

 trace of their presence. Patagia concolorous with thorax, edged out- 

 wardly with white. Abdomen black above, or nearly so, the segments 

 bordered behind with pale cinereous, thickly clothed with long fine white 

 hairs, whitish beneath. 



Primaries on outer third nearly concolorous with collar, not white as 

 in horealis and aquilonaris, whiter towards base ; spots and bands an 

 even blackish dull purple, nearly concolorous with thorax. A spot at 

 the base of subcostal and median veins ; and just beyond this, a row of 

 four similar spots crossing the wing at nearly right angles to the costa 

 and forming a straight, or almost a straight, line. A wide mediam band, 

 from 3. 7 to 5 mm. on costa, inner edge nearly straight, parallel with the 

 row of four spots, outer edge slightly excavated just above and below 

 median vein, narrowing to from 2.5 to 3.8 mm. and widening again at 

 inner margin to about the same width as on costa, often appearing wider 

 on inner margin from its union with other outer lines. Subterminal band 

 from 3 to 4 mm. wide on costa, outer edge nearly parallel with margin to 

 near the anal angle, narrowing rapidly on the inner edge from vein 5 

 to vein 3, where it becomes obsolete, appearing again at near anal 

 angle. Between the median and subterminal bands, there are three very 

 fine almost obsolete lines, one within or including the elongated promi- 

 nent discal spot, the others, beyond this, scalloped, slightly pointed and a 

 little darker on the veins ; these lines become more distinct at inner mar- 

 gin, where they often unite with the submedian band. The pattern is 

 much like that of occidentalism and the fine lines are similarly marked by 

 spots on the costa. The two bands are very uniform in colour, are not 

 bordered by darker lines, and show almost an utter absence of the edging 

 of orange scales found in other species. The terminal intervenular spots 

 are very small, as small as in albicoma. The vestiture is thin, the 

 scales narrowing more rapidly than in borealis and aquilonaris, as you 

 pass from base to external margin, giving the outer part of the wing a 



