THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 85 



ON SOxME NEW SPECIES OF MESOLEUCA ALLIED TO 

 MESOLEUCA HERSILIATA, GUENEE. 



BV GEO. W. TAYLOR, NANATMO, B. C. 



The conspicuous insect described by Guenee as Cidaria hersiliata 

 (Spec. Gen., X, 464) is well known to all American collectors of Geome- 

 tiidae, although it does not appear to be anywhere very plentiful. Guenee's 

 type was from " Canada." 



Walker redescribed this moth under the name Larentia flaminifera 

 (Cat. Lep. Hat. Br. Mus., XXIV, 1184). He possessed three specimens, 

 all females, two being from Trenton Falls, New York, and one from 

 Orillia. Walker noted two forms, and Mr. Pearsall (Can. Ent., XLI, 119) 

 tells us that one form was certainly hersiliata of Guene'e, but the other, 

 " variety /:?," was a distinct species, to which he (Mr. Pearsall) gives the 

 name M. VValkeraia. I have not myself yet met with Walkerata, but 

 have little doubt that it is a good species. At the same time, I am by no 

 means sure that it is Walker'i var. ft, as the description of that form is 

 altogether too vague, and, moreover, both Packard and Hulst, after an 

 examination of Walket's types, pronounced 7?i«;//w//"(?n!! and hersiliata to 

 be synonyms. 



Packard, in 1876 (Monograph III, pi. 8, figs. 41, 42), had a larger 

 amount of material, including at least one western specinien. He wrote 

 a description, to include all the forms before him, and made no attempt 

 to separate two species. 



Dr. Hulst, in 1896, with still more abundant material, described one 

 form from Nevada as Mesoleuca ethela, and another from Colorado as 

 Philereme formosa, a very extraordinary generic reference. 



All the forms above mentioned I have, I think, made out, except 

 Pearsall's Walkerata, but as my eastern material is not very ample, and as 

 Mr. Pearsall says that Walkerata is very rare, the exception is not 

 surprising. 



Of hersiliata (typical) I have specimens from various eastern 

 localities, and also from Manitoba and Calgary. A very beautiful variety 

 from Meech's Lake, near Ottawa (C. H. Young, 24, 6, '04), deserves a 

 name, and I have called it variety mirandata. It differs from the type in 

 having the central band quite clear of lines, and of a wine-red colour, 

 instead of being the usual black or gray. 



M. forviosa is represented in my collection by one specimen only. 

 It very closely resembles the photograph of Hulsl's type, kindly given to 

 Marebi 1^)4 



