THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 2$ 



NEW HISTORIES AND SPECIES IN PAPAIPEMA (HYDRCECIA). 



EV HENRY BIRD, RYE, N. Y. 



(Continued from Vol. XXXIX, page 317.) 



It is ratlier remarkable that in penetrating the seclusion which has so 

 thoroughly surrounded our Papaipema species until recently many new 

 specific forms should be met with prior to the discovery of the early 

 histories of some already described. In fact, it seems very much easier 

 to go out and encounter something new and unheard of among their 

 larvre, than to run down in their early stages certain species already long 

 known to us as moths. Of course, in territory as little worked as our 

 great Northwest, with its diversity of elevation and humidity, this might 

 easily occur, but to meet a species new to us in New York City limits 

 that is general thioughout the Atlantic States, and even occurs west of 

 the Alleghany ]Mountains, and is actually a most common insect when we 

 know where to put our finger on it, gives us a better conception of the 

 habits of this secretive genus. So, when another new form first appears 

 at Rye, where for many years a search of presumed diligence has con- 

 tinued, we are reminded how superficial were the endeavours and how 

 little has been seen after all. Two years ago an enigmatic form was bred^ 

 and was carried for want of better definition under the label "(?) hybrid," 

 but of what it might be a hybrid did not satisfactorily suggest itself. It 

 soon appeared that there was no ground for considering so prevalent a 

 form a random case of hybridism ; its constancy and wide distribution 

 argue against even an environmental variation that might be perpetuating 

 itself. Neither is it suggested by any lapse of superficial character that 

 some allied species wandering to a new food-plant has acquired a new 

 habitus which we do not now recognize. Confronted by these facts, and 

 finding its larva differing from the closest allies, we are able to give 

 specific standing to still another departure in the Papaipema group. 



Papaipema duplicaius, n. sp. — Form congeneric, front smooth. 

 Ground colour dark brown. A^ntennte simple in both sexes ; vestiture of 

 thorax and head one shade of grayish-brown with a lilac reflection, the 

 collar having but the faintest paler edging above ; the anterior thoracic 

 tuft proportionate, but less adze-shaped than in some species ; other 

 tuftings normally present. Primaries have the markings obsolete, except- 

 ing the t. a, and the t. p. lines that divide the wing into three slightly 



Januarx-. 1908 



