1900 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



honey-yellow ; antennae black, the lower side of the basal joint and base of the flagel- 

 lum often brownish ; palpi from pale testaceous to quite yellow : mesothorax coarsely 

 punctate, polished and sparsely pubescent; median carinae of metanotum complete but 

 faint ; scutellum polished, sparsely punctate ; postscutellum very narrow, almost 

 linear, with a central more or less circular, sometimes almost square fovea, having 

 a central, longitudinal carina thickened at base ; metascutellum rather coarsely and 

 densely rugose, with a (generally) well defined, slender, median carina; tegulae 

 brownish to black ; wing venation normal ; costa, stigma and radial vein quite dark 

 brown, though occasionally lighter, the other veins paler; curve of radial vein more or 

 less variable, sometimes quite angular; legs honey-yellow; posterior coxae black, 

 sometimes brownish beneath, the others rarely brownish ; tip of posterior tibiae either 

 black or dusky or concolorous ; hind tarsi generally dusky. Abdomen black, the two 

 basal joints closely punctate, sometimes slightly rugoso-punctate ; the first joint 

 longer than broad, narrowest at base, gradually broadening posteriorly, the base 

 deeply concave and highly polished, and the apical angles generally somewhat rounded ; 

 a more or less well defined, median carina on the second joint; lateral margin of both 

 and generally of the third, honey-yellow to reddish, this color extending ventrally over 

 the whole of two and sometimes of all three joints; rest of abdomen black, highly 

 polished and with sparse and slender white hairs, arranged dorsally in one irregular 

 row to each joint; ovipositor but slightly extending beyond tip — often entirely hidden 

 from above according as it is extended or drawn up. 



(f . Not separable except by the sexual differences common to the group. 



The coloration of the legs as well as of the basal abdominal joints 

 varies, tlie coxae being sometimes concolorous, i. e., all dusky and the 

 femora exceptionally having no duskiness. The mandibles vary from yel- 

 lowish-red to piceous. Described from some 150 specimens. 



In the most complete European description at hand (Xees ab Esenbeck, 

 Hym. Ichn. Aff., i, 181, 1834) the basal joint of the abdomen is made 

 to form a rectangulum, due to the fact that the narrowing, highly polished 

 base is generally hidden beneath the metascutellum, while the typical form 

 accords more with our exceptional specimens having unicolorous femora. 

 None of the specimens before me have the yellowish or reddish color on 

 basal abdominal joints so broadened dorsally as to appear rufous with two 

 large, black spots as described by Nees for the male. 



The cocoons are formed in irregular masses of about 20-100 or more. 

 They are ovoid and vary in color from very pale yellow to bright sulphur- 

 yellow, the loose external and combining threads being generally the 

 deeper in color, and the American specimens, as a rule, paler than the 

 European. Nees describes them as pale testaceous. The color not only 

 varies slightly but will depend upon the amount of exposure to bleaching 

 weather. 



I have pointed out (Am. Nat., 1882, p. 679) that Dr. Packard's name 

 picridis is preoccupied in the same genus and that his species was to be 

 looked upon as a variety of congregatus. I therefore proposed the varietal 

 name pieridivora for it. 



The four specimens at hand, as also his description (Proc. Best. Soc. 

 Nat. Hist., xxi, 1880-2, p. 26) , so far as it goes, agree well with glomer- 



