1S03.] J- < 1 [Packard. 



nearer to H. io, as will be seen by an examination of the figures, the 

 second and third thoracic spines being alike In shape. Hence the most 

 generalized or primitive form, as regards its larval armature, appears to 

 be the genus Hemileuca, and H. maia is the most like the young larva of 

 Hyperchiria io ; then succeeds the Cordova larva, then the New Mexican 

 larva, while Hemileuca yavapai is more modified, Hyperchiria io being the 

 most so of any under consideration and this may have been the last to be 

 evolved. 



The Young Larva of Hyperchiria io var. Lilith (Strecker). 



About a dozen living specimens of these interesting caterpillars were 

 kindly presented to me by Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, who had col- 

 lected them at Punta Gorda, Fla., where they were found in March 

 feeding on the mangrove. Tliey were described April 6. Mrs. Slosson 

 considered them as belonging to Strecker's var. Lilith. 



Length, 20-25 mm. The body is yellowish green all over. The lateral 

 broad, reddish, spiracular band is as in northern specimens of H. io ; it 

 is broadly and distinctly bordered below with white. The head and all 

 the legs, both thoracic and abdominal, are straw-yellow. The spines in 

 general are bright, straw-yellow, more yellow than the bod}' ; the ends of 

 the dorsal ones on the prothoracic segment are black, while the ends of 

 the long spinules in general are more or less black, some merely tipped 

 with black. 



This is apparently a case of acceleration of development, as the larva in 

 its second (or third) stage resembles in coloration the fall-grown northern 

 form of the larva of H. io, the markings, including the lateral reddish and 

 white spiracular line, being as in the full-fed normal larva of i?. io, and 

 the general color of the body and spines being yellow, instead of gray and 

 reddish, as in the normal H. io in its second and third stages. 



Notes on Hemileuca maia (Drury). 



Stage I compared with that of H. io. — In this stage maia is very similar 

 to io ; only the bifid dorsal tubercles or spines have shorter branches, the 

 spines themselves being a little shorter, while the longest bristle is longer, 

 the other bristles arising from the end ot the spines being fewer, indeed 

 only one, instead of three or four, as in the abdominal segments oi io. 

 The medio-dorsal spines on the eighth and ninth abdominal segments are 

 much shorter and with a shorter fork, but with as long or slightly longer 

 bristles arising from the forks. The larvte of the two forms are of the 

 same size. 



Stage II {or Illf). — Maia in what appears to be the second stage differs 

 from //, io in its second stage in having much longer dorsal spines, with 

 very much longer spinules. Thus the generic characters appear in the 

 second stage, as in H. io. 



