124 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES ON AN UNDETERMINED LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVA. 



BY IDA M. ELIOT AND CAROLINE G. SOULE, STOWE, VERMONT. 



We have found a caterpillar which we cannot identify, nor can any 

 one to whom we have shown the description and a water-color drawing. 

 " Papilio," Vol. iii., No. I., p. 14, has a description which is nearest it, 

 but is not exactly like our larva, as ours has no tufts. 



Our first specimen was found Sept. 12th, 1883, and our last one Aug. 

 13th, 1886. Between these we have three others; all of them pupated, 

 but none emerged. 



The larva is i j^ inches long ; the head is brownish-green with a 

 whitish bloom over it ; mouth parts dark ; no marks or hairs. 



The body is almost evenly cylindrical, tapering very slightly towards 

 the head ; green in color, very smooth, firm, and free from markings and 

 warts, and evenly covered with long, silky hairs, cream-white in color, and 

 growing singly, without warts or tufts which could be seen even with a 

 powerful lens. The hair turns towards the head, and droops in a beauti- 

 ful curve over the sides, almost as if parted on the dorsal line. There are 

 a very few short black hairs, not noticeable unless looked for, scattered on 

 the last three segments. The feet and props are green, a little brownish 

 at the tips. Spiracles are white and inconspicuous. 



The larvae were found, three on white birch, and one each on willow 

 and poplar, all being curled around on the under side of leaves. In this 

 position it always rests, with the head covered by the drooping hairs, and 

 looks like a downy white feather. It is very beautiful and conspicuous on 

 the tree, where it is always on one of the lower branches. 



It is wholly different in appearance, and in the arrangement and 

 quality of the hair, from the Apatelas, Lophocampas, or Arctians, or any 

 of our common hairy caterpillars, and some of its habits also differ from 

 these. Resting on the leaf-stem and beginning at the edge of the leaf, it 

 eats into the middle, leaving the margin except where it began ; or it rests 

 near the stem, aud eats the leaf all around, leaving only the part on which 

 it is resting. 



None of our specimens moulted, but just before pupation every one 

 changed color, the body being olive brown, and the hairs dull black. On 

 the day following this change the larva began to bore into a piece of rot- 

 ten wood, entering head first, then backing out with the bits of wood it 



