THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 369 



Four days later I made a special trip after calif ornica, but, with 

 the exception of three deformed specimens, not one was seen, and 

 during the remainder of my five-week stay not more than a dozen 

 were noticed. 



It would be interesting to know if a large influx of this beautiful 

 butterfly was noted in any locality. 



Practically every plant of Ceanothus was entirely defoliated, 

 and the pupa cases were hanging everywhere. Nine were counted 

 on a twig four inches long, eight on another five inches long, and so 

 on; while some young pine trees about seven feet high looked to be 

 well laden with strange fruit. 



The percentage of parasitism appeared to be very small. I 

 did no actual counting of large numbers, but estimated it was no 

 greater than one per cent. 



ON THE LARVA OF PLEUROPRUCHA (DEPTALIA) IN- 

 SULSARIA GUEN. 



BY LOUIS B. PROUT, LONDON, ENGLAND. 



M}^ esteemed correspondent, Dr. Eugenio Giacomelli, of La 

 Rioja, Argentine Republic, recently sent me the description of the 

 larva and pupa of a small Geometrid moth unknown to him, to- 

 gether with imago bred therefrom. Knowing how extremely little 

 had yet been done with the early stages of the Neotropical Geometri- 

 dc€, he naturally hoped that his discovery might prove entirely new. 

 This is not actually the case, for the moth turns out to be the very 

 widely distributed Pleuroprucha insulsaria Guen. (var. ? asthenaria, 

 Walk.; compare my memoir on the Argentine Geometridœ, Trans. 

 Ent. Soc, Lond., 1910, 215.) But as the larva is evidently very 

 variable, and it seems likely that the Southern form constitutes a 

 local race, it is well worth while to give a translation of Dr. Giaco- 

 melli's note on his larva. His account of the pupa, both as to its 

 structure and its activity, agrees very exactly with Hulst's (Ent. 

 Amer., 3, 175, 1887, erroneously as Acidalia "insularia'). 



"Ground color delicate green, more intense dorsally, ventral 

 region glaucous green; above on the central segments three small, 

 crescent-shaped spots, yellow, paler than the ground; mediodorsal 

 and lateral lines also paler. Se-tae simple, not numerous, short, in- 

 conspicuous. Later it changes color as follows : The delicate green 

 becomes glaucous, the longitudinal lines a dull vinous red, laterally 

 and dorsally, between them some round dots of the same colour [the 

 tubercles], bearing the short, simple hairs. 



'The larva lives on Prosopis (Mimosae) and Acacia ripari 

 (Mimosae). It pupated five days after I took it, so that it would 

 appear that thechange of colouring indicates that the transformation 

 from caterpillar to chrysalis is near at hand." 



December, 1912 



