44 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



her eggs on the back of the caterpillar, usually a short distance behind 

 the head, where they are cemented firmly by means of a peculiar secretion 

 with which the insect is furnished. Three or four of these eggs are 

 usually placed upon a single caterpillar, where, after a few days, they 

 hatch, when the tiny worms eat their way through the skin into the 

 interior of the body, where they feed upon the fatty matters, instinctively 

 avoiding the vital organs. When the caterpillar is about full grown it 

 dies, and from its body emerge these three or four full grown whitish 

 grubs, which soon after their exit change to chrysalids. These are nearly 

 one-fifth of an inch long, oval, smooth and of a dark brown color, from 

 which in due time the perfect flies escape. 



PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE NOCTUIDJE OF CALIFORNIA. 



Part IV. 



BY AUG. R. GROTE, A. M., 



Director of the Museum, Buffalo Society Natural Sciences. 



t 



61. Prodenia prcefica Grote. » 



Allied to the Eastern lineaiella ; a little larger, with broader wings. 

 The hind wings are more obscure, in the female subfuscous. The 

 markings are so nearly alike in the two that I do not find good differ- 

 ences. Nevertheless, the tone of the three Californian specimens is less 

 bright, the whitish apical shade is less defined, and the discal point 

 beneath on the secondaries is evident and distinct, whereas it is wanting 

 in lineatella. The extra basal and subterminal fields show a purply 

 shading in prcefica. Expanse 36 m. m. 



California, No. 5568, Mr. Hy. Edwards ; Mendocino, June, Mr. 

 Behrens. 



62. Himella furfurata Grote, Proc. Acad. N. S., Phil., 1874, p. 204. 

 Sauzalito, Mr. Behrens, Oct., Nos. 182 and 223. 



The Californian specimens are a little darker than my type, more dis- 

 tinctly marked, the palpi distinctly blackish outwardly. 



