Dec. 1896] DVAR : LlFE-HlSTORIES OF N. Y. SlUG CATERPILLARS. 187 



season — during July. The eggs are laid singly and well scattered. The 

 young larvae after emergence from the egg rest at the edge of the leaf 

 on the under side and moult at once without feeding. During their life 

 history they remain on the under side of the leaves, finally falling to the 

 ground to spin their cocoons during September. They occur on forest 

 and shade trees, not usually on very low bushes. 



There are eight larval stages normally, occasionally nine, the extra 

 stage being interpolated between the last two as in Eiiclea. 



The present life- history was worked out from a newly hatched 

 larva which I found on a white oak leaf at Bellport, Long Island, rest- 

 ing beside its t^g shell. 



Criticism of Previous Descriptions. 



Harris' figures are good. In the colored one the yellow subdorsal 

 line is omitted, while in the structural one the thoracic region is not 

 properly segmented. Dr. Hulst describes the head zs> " strongly bifid, 

 etc.," evidently referring to the anterior edge of joint 3 ; otherwise the 

 description is excellent. In my own first general description I omitted 

 to mention the subdorsal horns. In my later one I located the second 

 and third subdorsal pair too far forward (they are on joints 4 and 5, 

 not on 3 and 4 with a gap at 5 as I stated), and I mistook 'the lower 

 lateral segmental glandular dots (5) for spiracles on joints 6 to 12, thus 

 placing them above, instead of below, the lateral horns. Mr. Beuten- 

 mueller locates the red marks on segments 8 and 10 instead of 9 and 11, 

 probably owing to a failure to recognize the true relations of the anterior 

 horns. Dr. Packard treats this species vvith unusual brevity, confining 

 his remarks to an explanation of the figures of the spines of the lateral 

 horns. Yet, curiously enough, an error has crept in, for the figure is 

 stated to represent ' ' one of the lateral tubercles of the first abdominal 

 segment" (joint 5), which really bears no lateral horn at all. 



The attention given to this curious larva heretofore is far less than 

 it deserves. The early stages are entirely unnoticed. 



Description of the Several Stages in Detail. 



£gg^. — Elliptical, flat, reticulations distinct in the empty shell, 

 linear, triangular, quadrangular, rarely pentagonal, irregular; transpar- 

 ent, colorless, the shell white ; size 1.6 X -9 rnm. Laid singly on the 

 under side of a leaf. 



S/age I. — (Plate IX, fig. i) head whitish, eye black; body ellipti- 

 cal, dorsal space broadest anteriorly, gradually narrowed to the tail, not 



