NOTES ON CERTAIN CAUFORNIAN LEPIDOPTERA 7 



" almost round " to almost oval, is oblique, the white ring is in some speci- 

 mens a mere line, in others covering nearly three-fourths of the spot, often 

 the yellowish of pale fuscous filling is simply a darker dot or a line. The 

 reniform is much like the orbicular in coloring. 



The median and subtermineil shades are fairly w^ell defined in all speci- 

 mens, quite prominent in the fresher ones. The veins of the primaries 

 are more or less distinctly outlined with white scales, the fringe is cut 

 with white at the ends of the nervures. The fringe of the secondaries 

 is white with a shadowy line neeir the outer edge. 



It is rather unfortunate that Professor Smith described the species from 

 such poor material, since his diagnosis is thereby made more or less mis- 

 leading. He certainly was mistaken in saying that his nita was received 

 in association with augustus. The latter insect does not occur in San 

 Diego or its immediate vicinity. 



Hemileuca electra Wright. 



In Entomological News, vol. xxiii. Dr. Watson, of Manchester, Eng- 

 land, describes an aberration of H. electra as H. ricksed^eri. It occurs 

 to me that some years ago I bred over 200 specimens of this insect and 

 produced several very dark specimens in both sexes. The matter inter- 

 ested me and I made notes of the circumstcinces attending the fact. 



After the larvae had pupated I sifted them out of the dirt and put them 

 into a cage in the cellar for the winter. In the spring they were covered 

 loosely with earth eind placed in a warm spot out of doors. They began 

 to emerge in July. After a number had emerged the unusual hap- 

 pened — a cold rain — and the remaining pupae became thoroughly chilled. 

 Many of the pupae were lost and those that did emerge came either very 

 dark or crippled. The following year I tried the same experiment with 

 Datana robusta, chilling the pupae with cold water, and produced the 

 same result, getting specimens without markings, dark and unicolored. 

 Some correspondence on the subject brought out the fact that the phe- 

 nomenon had been noticed by others. 



I have collected and bred H. electra for about seven years, having 

 handled more than 600 specimens in that time. I have before me now 

 necirly 400 specimens bred cind collected by the late L. E. Ricksecker, 

 whose name Dr. Watson has given to his aberration, and I have yet to 

 see the first aberration except as noted. My conclusion is, therefore, 

 that the species is constant and that this or any other aberration is due 



