NORTH AMERICAN LEPIDOPTKKA. 20! I 



gives fide Westwood, the following differences : " Bombycolde>< is much 

 moi'e brownish in tint, not near so leiiden gray ; tlie thorax is desti- 

 tute of all black lines ; the dark dashes on middle, near inner mar- 

 gin of primaries, are moi-e central and nearer to base of the wing; 

 the secondaries are without any appearance of dark central fascia, 

 the fringe on anal margin is of the same dull brown as the i-est of 

 the wing; under surface of all wings is uniform pale brown." 



In the following nund)er he gives a figure of the species from a 

 drawing made fi-om the type. This represents an insect very much 

 like harrisil, save that the pale shade between the outer lines is 

 strongly marked and the basal line is reduced to a few black dashes. 

 Mr. Strecker seems in doul)t whether it is an aberrant form or a good 

 species. Mr. Lintner claimed it a good species in his Ent. Cont. i. 

 Prof Fernald quotes Mr. Thaxter as having taken an Ellema " w'hich 

 is practically the same with Strecker's figure of bombycoides," and as 

 far as he can judge is that species. He also ex{)resses the opinion 

 that it is a variety of harrisil. 



Mr. Lintner showed me an insect in his collection, last winter, 

 which he claims is Walker's species, and from a comparison made 

 with harrisii at the time, it looked distinct ; the fore wings are wider, 

 less acute at tip, the costa more convex. The color is more shot with 

 umber brown and the basal bands are wanting. The specimen was 

 obtained from Mr. Meske as an imperfect harrisii, and was a bred 

 specimen. 



Mr. Meske assures me he never obtained harrisii, except b}' breed 

 iug, and this insect given to Mr. Lintner must have been produced 

 by a larva so like that of harrisil that he failed to note any distinc- 

 tion. 



In view of all this I believe that this species will eventually turn 

 out only an aberratic form of harrisii — hardly a variety — f )r were it 

 a variety it would occur more frecjuently. 



E. piiieiiin Liul.,«- Ent. Cont. i 1872, 37, pi. 8, figs.12-13, Ellema; Bd., Sp. Geu. 

 Lep. Het. i. 107, f^phinx ; (Jrt.. Buff. Bull. iii. 225, Ellema: Butl., Tr. Zool. 

 Soc. Loud. ix. 62(), Ellema. 



%. — Head aud collar umber; palpi brown; thorax umber at the sides and 

 brownish cinereous on the middle. Abdomen immaculate. l)ro\vnish cinereous. 

 Legs brown, with white scales on the femora and at the joints. Anterior win^-s 

 as long as the body, umber colored, dusted with grayish at the ba.se, along the 

 terminal margin, and on the princi]ial uervures and their branches; within the 

 ceil is a quadrangular blackish brown sjiot; an umber brown shade is placed over 

 the base of the nervules, filling the lower half of the i)()st-apical interspace half 



TKANS. AMER. KNT. SOC. XV. (27) SEPTEMBER, 1888 



