THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 23 



JO 



NOTES ON THE LARVAE OF ARCTIA VIRGO, LINN. 



BY ARTHUR GIBSON, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL 



FARM, OTTAWA. 



In Dr. Dyar's "Preliminary Notes on the Larvse of the Genus 

 Arctia" (Jour. N V. Ent. Soc., March, 1900), some interesting remarks 

 are made in reference to the larv* of Arctia zirgo, as to the stage 

 in which the larva? hibernate, and if they ever possess a dorsal stripe. 



Through the kindness of the late Mr. T. G. Priddey, of Toronto, we 

 received on the roth April, 1901, three larva, of A. virgo, collected by 

 him on the 5th April. Writing under date of the 8th April to Dr. 

 Fletcher, Mr. Priddey says : " I shall probably get more larvse, but even 

 now the bank under the grass where they hibernate is quite solid ice." The 

 three specimens only moulted once before maturity, viz., on the 26th 

 April, 30th April, and 8th May, respectively ; so these, at any rate, 

 hibernated in the penultimate stage. Mr. Dwight Brainerd tells me that 

 "at Montreal, A. virgo generally hibernates in its second to last skin; 

 that is, it sheds its skin twice in the spring before going into pupation." 

 He also states that he has found specimens in the fall in the penultimate 

 stage. In the Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario for 

 1S96, on page 13, Dr. Fyles mentions that in the spring of 1891 he 

 collected larva? of this species at South Quebec, which moulted on the 4 th 

 May and again on the 20th May, the moths emerging on the 10th July. 



With regard to the dorsal stripe, the following description of the 

 full-grown larva, with the appended notes, will show that all the three 

 specimens received from Mr. Priddey possessed this character : 



Length, just after last moult (30th April, 1901), 35 mm. Beautiful 

 deep black larva, with bunches of stout black bristles from tubercles 

 on dorsum, and reddish bristles from tubercles on lower portion 

 of sides and on venter, and a striking dorsal stripe of bright yellow 

 distinct on all segments but 2 and 13. Head 3.6 mm. wide, shiny 

 black, with lobes full, slightly furrowed at vertex, sparsely covered with 

 short and long black hairs; mouth-parts and ocelli black; antennae 

 reddish-brown. Whole skin of body deep velvety black. Tubercles 

 conspicuous, bearing bunches of distinctly barbed bristles. The bristles 

 from tubercle iv and from all tubercles above spiracles are deep black 

 On most segments the majority of the bristles from tubercle v are bright 

 rust-red, those from the upper portion of tubercle only being black. The 



