PAriLiONiD^. 259 



ates the willow, poplar and Balm of Gilead. Vanessa Mil- 

 hertii Godart is much smaller and is rather rare. It occurs 

 about roadsides in May, July and August. The larva feeds 

 on nettles. Mr. Saunders informs me that "it was found feed- 

 ing on the nettle, nearly full grown, July 26th. It was from 

 one to one and one-eighth inches long. The head is black, 

 thickly covered with fine, brownish white hairs, and sprinkled 

 with many minute whitish dots. The body is black, thickly 

 sprinkled with whitish dots and with small, fine, white hairs, 

 each segment, excepting the second, with a transverse row of 

 branching spines. A greenish yellow lateral line runs close to 

 the under surface, with a second broken line of a brighter yel- 

 low color. All the spines and their branches are black, except- 

 ing the lower row on each side from the fifth to the twelfth 

 segment, springing from the greenish yellow lines ; these are of 

 a greenish j-elloAv color. Under surface dull greenish, minutely 

 dotted with whitish dots. There is a wide, central, blackish 

 stripe covering anteriorly, nearly the whole of the under sur- 

 face." V. Californica Boisd. is bright fulvous, with three black 

 bands on the anterior edge of the fore-wings, and there are no 

 black crescents in the black border of the wings. 



The genus Grapta differs from the preceding in its deeply 

 incised wings, its smaller size, and red and brown colors. 

 The under side of the hind wings has usuall}' a silvery or 

 golden dot and curved line, or both, imitating difierent punc- 

 tuation marks. Grapta interrogationis Doubleday is one of the 

 largest species, and has a golden semicolon beneath. It is found 

 in May, August, and in autumn. The caterpillars injure the 

 foliage of the elm and lime trees, and also the hop vine, some- 

 times defoliating the whole vine. The larva has been found, 

 by Mr. Saunders, feeding on the hop, August 7th. "When 

 full grown its length is one and one-fourth inches. The head 

 is reddish black, flat in front and somewhat bilobed, each lobe 

 tipped with a tubercle emitting five single, black, pointed 

 spines ; it is covered with many small, white, and several l)lack- 

 ish tubercles. The body is cylindrical, black, thickly covered 

 with streaks and dots of yellowish white ; the second segment 

 is without spines, but with a row of yellowish tubercles in their 

 place ; the third segment has four branching spines, all black, 



