THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. li; 



Among the Arctians which have been sent in for examination, there 

 are nine specimens which we cannot satisfactorily place, and it may be 

 that these may prove to be undescribed. It is not advisable, we think, to 

 describe new species of this genus from a kw specimens, even if these 

 seem to be fairly constant. When any of tliese species which are not now 

 very well known, come to be reared in numbers from the same batch of 

 eggs, doubtless many surprises will be experienced, and characters which 

 in the past have been regarded as important by some students, may prove 

 to be anything but constant. In a genus the species of which show such 

 a wide range of variation, great care should be exercised in arriving 

 at conclusions regarding new forms which may appear, and it will 

 only be when every species has been carefully studied from the egg that 

 definite knowledge can be had regarding the insects which constitute this 

 interesting genus of the Arctiid^e. 



We have been endeavouring to get some idea of the distribution of the 

 different species, and such resuhs as we have obtained are given below, as 

 well as the dates of appearance of the perfect insects. 



I. Virgo. — This species is well known as a moth, and common in 

 many parts of Canada, particularly so in Manitoba and east of that 

 Province. The mature larva is a beautiful creature, and, as might be 

 expected, is one of the largest of the genus. It is 55 mm. in length at 

 rest, 60 mm. when extended, and 8.5 mm. at widest part. In colour it is 

 a deep velvety black, with bunches of stout black barbed bristles from the 

 tubercles on the dorsum, and reddish bristles from the tubercles 

 on the lower portion of sides and on venter. Some specimens 

 are without any markings on the skin, but others have a striking dorsal 

 stripe, the colour varying — bright yellow, dirty whitish, or orange-yellow. 

 This larva also varies as to the colour of the tubercles. In three speci- 

 mens the writer bred, tubercle i. was black, ii. black (in one specimen 

 this afterwards changed to reddish), iii. black in two specimens, reddish 

 in one, iv., v., vi,, vii. and viii. also varying in colour. (Can. Ent., Vol. 

 XXXIV., p. 23.) Abdominal feet brownish-red. Specimens of the larvae, 

 collected at Rosthern, Sask., by Mr. T. N. Willing, and given to Dr. 

 Fletcher, had all the tubercles of a bright reddish colour, the bristles being 

 all foxy red, or smoky, and the skin of some specimens mottled with gray. 

 Some examples had a creamy yellow stripe down the dorsum, and others 

 had this stripe broken up into a double spot on each segment. 



