Seventeenth annual Meeting. 61 



9611. Phkeosinus dentatus Say. Salina, on juniperus virginiana (red cedar). Com- 

 mon. 

 9670. Brachytarsus limbatus Say. Salina and Buffalo. Not common. 



. Apion ovale Smith. Salina. Common. 



. Apion obsoletum Smith. Buffalo. Rare. 



PREPARATORY STAGES OF HYPERCHIRIA ZEPHYRIA GROTE. 



BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 



In July 1882, while our University Scientific Expedition was encamped in the 

 Gallinas Canon above the Hot Springs near Las Vegas, N. M., my son Willie was so 

 fortunate as to discover the first specimen of this beautiful moth. A few evenings later 

 a second specimen flew into our tent, attracted by the light of the camp fire. This species 

 has the primaries of a dark, ashy brown color, each being crossed by a very narrow 

 oblique white band on its terminal third, while each secondary is of a bright yellow 

 color with ash-brown margin and a conspicuous eye-spot quite similar to that of Hyper- 

 chiria lo. 



In 1883, at the same camping-place, no moths were obtained, but in August half- 

 grown caterpillars were found feeding upon the leaves of the scrubby white oak ( Quercus 

 alba var. Grunnisoni Torr.) From their branching, spiny tubercles, and the stinging sen- 

 sations produced by them upon the hands of my children, I recognized their generic de- 

 termination, and surmised that the species would prove to be the H. zephyria, captured 

 in the preceding year. A considerable number of the caterpillars were brought with us 

 to Lawrence, Kansas, where they fed readily upon the leaves of the Black Oak ( Quercus 

 tinctoria), and before the end of September passed safely into the pupa stage within thin 

 and loosely constructed but tough and inelastic cocoons, the latter fastened to leaves and 

 other debris or to the sides and bottoms of the breeding-cages. 



It was observed in New Mexico that during the day-time the caterpillars were scat- 

 tered about over the oak upon which they were feeding, but on approach of night they 

 manifested a tendency to arrange themselves in processionary lines along the branches 

 and trunk of the tree. The stinging sensations produced by their spines upon tender 

 hands were often severe, and were accompanied by white swellings of the irritated skin 

 vrhich in some cases continued for two or three days. 



•The chrysalids lived through the winter, and early in June, 1884, the moths began 

 to emerge. Several males and females were confined in a breeding-cage with the expec- 

 tation of securing fertilized eggs and the entire cycle of transformations. But the ex- 

 periment did not prove to be a success. Perhaps the moths, having emerged at an 

 altitude fully one mile nearer the sea level than their original home, were unfavorably 

 affected by the climatic change, and therefore refused to mate. 



The following is a description of the 



FULI,-(tROWX larva. 



Length 2J to 2:] inches (64 to 70 mm.). General color of upper surface, bright 

 lemon yellow. The second segment ( the head is considered to be the first segment ) 

 has a transverse brownish-black band. The remaining segments have each eight narrow 

 black longitudinal lines, extending from a point just behind the center of each segment 

 to a point just in front of the center of the succeeding segment. Two of these black lines 

 along the dorsum constitute a pair and are nearly continuous, but are separated by a nar- 

 row white line. Two other black lines upon the sides of each pair of segments are more 

 widely separated and constitute a second and third pair. Between the dorsal pair of lines 



