Insect Life on 'he ]V ester n Arctic Coast of America 15k 
The two large moths, the arctiid Hyphoraia alpina and the lymantriid, 
Gynaephora rossi, appear at about this time. The hairy larvae of these are difficult 
to distinguish, especially as the colour of the hairs change after each moulting, 
but generally the Hyphoraia larvae are the larger and lack the yellow hair-spines 
on the middle of the back, so that its colour is more uniformly brown. The 
pupa of the Hyphoraia is bald and coal-black and larger than that of the Gynae- 
phora. The Hyphoraia cocoons, also, are larger — about the size of a pigeon's 
egg — and more perfect, with the outer layer smoother and whiter than the 
brownish, more closely spun cocoon of the Gynaephora. Hyphoraia appears to 
be quite free from the tachnid parasite Euphorocera gelida and almost free from 
ichneumonid parasites, but the Gynaephora is attacked by both. In spite of 
this, Gynaephora is the more abundant. The males first appear, active and 
well developed, and when the females appear, copulation at once takes place, 
though the female is in a crumbled state, and so little developed that they 
can only crawl around. The first act of the females, after being left by the 
male, is to lay their eggs. 
At Martin point, Alaska, at the end of July, 1914, examination was made 
of the extensive lagoons. They contain about 6 inches of brackish water, 
covering a bottom sometimes sandy, sometimes gravelly, and, in the deeper 
places, muddy, the mud being mainly the tubes and excrement of red Chiro- 
nonius larvse. Some of the ponds contained floating masses of green, thread-like 
algseT On the water were flies and the common blue collembola; in the water 
were the fry of a sculpin (Oncocottus quadricornis) , water-beetle larvse, copepods 
{Eurytemora sp., etc.), many full grown male and female Branchinecta paludosa 
and Lepidurns arcticus of various sizes, besides the common Daphnia pulex. 
Some of these lagoons were at high tide connected with the beach water; and 
the temperature of their water was during the middle of the day about 50 degrees 
F., though the temperature of the air was only around freezing point. 
August 1-10 
Several more plants (Lloydia, Ranuncidus. Parrya, Eutrema, Polemonium, 
etc.) of importance to insects finish their flowering at this time and are replaced 
by flowers of a great number of Compositse. 
August 11-20 
On Herschel island flying insects were few. The berry-like galls on the 
leaves of the various species of Salix (*S. richardsonii, S. aiiglorum, S. reticidata, 
etc.) caused by sawfly larvse (Pontania sp.) were very common, from the size 
of a pinhead to that of a bean, the larvse inside being of a corresponding size. 
The colour of the larvae w^as pale yellow; the head dark grey, ej^es black, thoracic 
legs light grey. Adults of several species were reared from them and emerged 
in the following July. 
The ponds contained a rich life of invertebrates, of which the large phyllo- 
pods {Branchinecta paludosa) various cladocera {Eurycercus, etc.) and copepods 
(Diaptomus, etc.), small midge larvse and phryganeoid larvae in tubes, snails 
(Aplexa hypnoruni), and worms were the most common (PL VII, figs. 1-2). 
August 21 -SI 
Insect life is rapidly declining, especially among the less hardy (neurop- 
teroids, lepidoptera, mosquitoes, wasps, sawflies) few of which are seen on the 
wing, though others (flies, coleoptera, bees, hemiptera) are still numerous. 
