42 -MK.MOIKS UF THE NATIONAL ALADKMY OF SCIENCES. 



The sliapo of the tlireo lust abduniiiial segments, with the anal leys, is eharacteristie in the 

 Synihonilnciiia. The eighth segment ma\- or may not be humped or bear a horn-like excrescence, 

 but the ninth and tenth segments are well develo{)ed, more or less elongated, especially' the ninth. 

 In shape and armature these segments widely differ from those in the Syssphingina. 



The caudal hump or horn differs from that of the Syssphingina in being soft and flesh\', 

 u.suallj' low conical; it is sporadic in distrit)ution, being either present or absent in the Lasiocam- 

 pida>; apparently absent in the Eurypterotida?. 



In DfJiiihij.r laori."' as already stated (p. 20), it arises from a median multisetose wart: present 

 in stage I it is a large conical hump, w-hich is distinctly divided at the end, plainly showing 

 its origin from two .separate wiyts. 



In Brahmxa japonica in stage I it has lost all traces of its duplex nature owing to the high 

 degree of specialization of the warts in this genus. 



The suranal plate is broad, thick, fleshy, either smooth or somewhat rugose (Endromis and 

 Bombycidff). or in Brahina?a armed with two horns. In Apatelodes the suranal plate is short, 

 very broad and fleshy, with no armature, and so it is in the Liparida? and Lasiocampida?. 



The anal legs differ widely from those of the syssphingine group of families in being soft, 

 fleshy, with no decided chitinous plate or granulations. 



The hairy larvw, especially those of the Liparidw and Lasiocampida-, with their con.spicuou.s 

 pencils of hairs have their prototypes in the notodontian genus Apatelodes. In A. torrefacta 

 the tufts or pencils arise from minute ill -defined warts. The tuft on abdominal segment 7 arises 

 from two separate areas (not wart-like eminences), one on each side of the median line of the 

 body; those on the eighth segment form a larger area or dou1)le group, bearing numerous micro- 

 scopic papilla? like those all over the body, giving rise to the long secondary hairs, from which 

 the hair-like set;e arise. There are in the full-grown larva no warts, like those present in the 

 young before the first molt. (For the arrangement of the warts in stage I, with figures, see 

 Dyar in Psyche, December, 1895, p. 317.) The pupa varies in the group with the habits of the 

 different generic types. All the larvfe are .spinners except the Brahnueidie. in which the pupa 

 is sul)terranean and with a well-marked cremaster, .somewhat reminding one of that of Eacles 

 imperial ix. The pupa differs, however, from that of Eacles in the head not being bent so 

 far forward, the thorax not being so full and overhanging the head. In this respect the pupa 

 is like the imago, that of the Ceratocampida? having the thorax very full and rounded in front 

 and overhanging the head. The base of the maxillfe are also much nearer the head-end of the 

 body, while they are about twice as long as in Eacles. The large cremaster reminds one of that 

 of Eacles, but this is evidently a case of convergence; it differs in being constricted at Itase, 

 beyond much smaller, and ending in two diverging points. 



Plujloiivny (if the Sytiihoinhycina.—Tha origin of the group may with a fair degree of cer- 

 tainty be traced back to Ichthyura(Melalopha); at least that genus, especially in the larval stage, 

 appears to be an ancestral type, prophetic of the incoming of more specialized families. It is 

 already a.s regards the multisetose warts, the secondary setiB, and two douV)le humps and head- 

 characters ([uite far removed from the less specialized notodontians (Notodontinic) and approxi- 

 mated to the Symbombyciiia, these tn-ing points which I failed to see in preparing the monograjjh 

 of the group. 



For example, the head of Ichtiiyura in its general shape is very diflereut from that of the 

 Notodontina' and Heterocampiiuv, being more as in the Lasiocampina'. It is broad; the broad 

 and short epicranium is swollen on each side of the epicranial suture, which is much shorter than 

 in the other notodontians; the clypeus is large. (PI. XLIV. fig. •>..) 



The (juestion arises whether because of these features and the ancesi ral relation of the group, 

 the Apatelodina'. Datanina>, and IchthyuriniV should not be removed from the other notodontians 

 and l)c regarded as collectively forming an independent family. This may ultimatelv have to be 

 done. But at present we may consider that the notodontians, originally derived from some 



"I have this spring (1904) raised numbers of B. moii from eggs kindly sent me l)y Dr. L. 0. Howard, Ento- 

 mologist U. S. Department of Agriculture, affording me an abundance of living material for examination. 



