126 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



of tli(? fourth line). This mark is bent inward in the niiihUe, and thus forms a rounded loop 

 (sometimes an angle), which is directed outward, behind the costal edge, and becomes indistinct 

 between the fourth and fifth branches of the subcostal vein. 



That this species (Fitch's r«.«) is Walker's 7. apicall.s is not to be doubted, since I now have 

 an excellent colored drawing of \Yalker"s type in the British 3Iuseum which leaves no doubt as 

 to its specific relations, having the markings and hue of normal can from Maine. II is type wa.s 

 collected by Dr. Barnstou. 



This species is very variable, and what, with my present material, seem to constitute its 

 varieties I will endeavor to point out, prenusing that my views are subject to future correction 

 after we have much fuller collections of the moths and after we know more of their transformations. 

 Meanwhile it is to be hoped that there will not be a further multiplication of nominal species in a 

 genus already so burdened with synonyms. 



Walker's Ichtliyuni (ipimlli^ is the same as I. van, as I judge from au excellent colored figure 

 (PI. Vl I, fig. 4) made for me by Mr. II. Knight from Walker's type, but it is impossible to determine 

 from his brief description, as he does not say whether the alhida marHla([UP costali is oblirpie or not. 

 Mr. Dyar has also come to the same conclusion from a jjcu and-ink sketch of the type received 

 from Mr. Butler. In Barnston's MS. description, quoted by Walker, the larva is described as 

 "brown, thick, with If! feet, and with a band on part of the back ; " '-feeds on the poplar leaf This 

 description will api)ly better to van than to any other species known to me, as I have reared vau 

 from the poplar, and the larva is brown, short, though not with "a band on part of the back." 



After examination of my type of I. indeniata in the Harris collection, I find it agrees with 

 Fitch's description of ran. 



I regard /. oniatn G. & R. as only a clinuvtic variety of Fitch's vau, and a specimen of I. 

 ornuta G. & il., so labeled by Mr. Edwards, is also labeled ^^incarcerafa Boisd.;"and on comparing 

 Boisduval's description of incarcerata with specimens of ornata from California, Truckee Valley, 

 Eeno, Nev., and Colorado, I do not see any specific differences. 



/. incarcerata (I. ornata), PI. II, figs. 4-7: While these represent small individuals, many are 

 larger, and it is a larger and generally paler form than I. apicalis {vrnt) of the Eastern States, and 

 I think it is simply a climatic variety of the Eastern form. One i and a 9 in the Edwards 

 collection are as dark as the typical Eastern vau, and the pale form may be a seasonal variety. 

 Indeed, Mr. Beutenmiiller informs me that iu I. apicalis {van), which he has reared, this pale form 

 is the summer brood, the dark individuals belonging to the winter brood. 



One 9 from Truckee and a small S from Sierra Nevada, California, are very pale (expanse of 

 wings, 33 mm.). Also from Alameda County, Cal. (U. S. Nat. Mus.). 



A large, well-preserved, fresh specimen from Lincoln, Nebr. (U. S. Nat. Mus.), collected May 21 

 by Prof. L. Bruner, is unusually pale, having a faded-out look, and is evidently a form (asforiw 

 Edw.) of var. incarcerata [ornata), being like one of that variety (a 5 ) from Colorado, but differing 

 in having no reddish brown shade on it. (See PI. YII, flg. 3.) This form, subvar. rtstorw, has 

 also been reared by Mr. Dyar from eggs sent him from Miles City, Mont., and whose larval stages 

 I have described beyond, my pnpic not having disclosed any moths. Although the rainfall at 

 Astoria, Oreg., is very heavy (80 inches annually) and the climate humid, yet the Astoria specimen 

 in the Edwards collection is no darker than those from Montana and from Kansas. This is 

 somewhat unexpected and remains to be explained, unless it be discovered that there is a dark 

 winter brood. 



The young larva was found feeding on the aspen at Brunswick, Me., and molted August 

 10-12, when it became 10 mm. in length. 



Yonny larva in third stage. — Length, 10. mm. Head black. The body is on the sides and at 

 the end livid dark brown. The warts and humps on the lirst thoracic and lirst and eighth 



' Walker (Cat. Lep. Het. British Museum, v, 1058) tlius refers to a moth which he describes as Ichthijura apicalis: 

 Mas. Cinerea; caput nigro-fuscum; frons et palpi subtua albida; anteuuiie canai ramis einereis; thorax vitta 



dorsali uigro-fusca; ahie anticiB fusco-ciuereie, linea uudulosa albida maculaque costali rufo-fusca; postie:i> cinerea^; 



subtus al1)id;e fascia gracili discali uudulosa fuscesceute. 



"Larva brown, thick, with 16 feet, aud with a baud ou part of the back; feeds ou the poplar leaf, which it 



draws together with silk. Cocoou slight aud white. The moth appears in June."— liarnstou JISS. 

 ti, 6.— St. Martin's Falls, Albany Kiver, Hudson Bay. Presented by Dr. Barnstou. 



