Preparatory Stages of Arachnis picta Packard. 



BY HARRISON C. DYAR. 



Egg. — Spherical, the basesHghtly more flattened than the sum- 

 mit. Color light pearly gray. Diameter about i mm. The eggs 

 are laid in masses of fifty or less, close together, but only in a single 

 layer. About four hundred eggs are laid by one female. The 

 duration of this stage is about two weeks. 



First Larval Stage. — When newly hatched, the head is 

 slightly cordate, black and shiny, the mouth pale. A few black 

 hairs on its surface; cervical spot straight in front, cur\-ed behind, 

 black and shiny as the head. The body is pale, dirty whitish, with 

 long black hairs growing from blackish warts, which are arranged 

 as in the mature larva. Thoracic legs black. Length 2 mm. After 

 hatching, the little larva makes its first meal of its egg-shell, which 

 it sometimes completely devours. As the stage progresses the body 

 becomes greenish white, the. warts black, some of them brownish at 

 their bases forming a subdorsal and substigmatal brown band on the 

 middle segments. Legs black. 



Sfxond Larval Stage. — Head as before. Body pale whitish, 

 the warts large and black, with brown irrorations between those in 

 the subdorsal and subventral spaces. Thoracic feet black; abdom- 

 inal black outwardly. Hair black, about i mm. long. Length of 

 larva about 4 mm. 



Third Larval Stage. — Head shiny black. Body and warts 

 black, with a white dorsal line and pale stigmatal band. Hairs 

 black, whitish from the warts in subventral space. Length 6 mm. 

 As this stage approaches completion the body assumes a purplish 

 black color, and the lines are yellowish. 



Fourth Larval Stage. — Head black and shiny, with a few 

 short black hairs. A paler line above the mouth concolorous with 

 the base of the palpi. Body and warts black, a narrow, dull, whitish 

 dorsal line. Hair bristly and black, paler from the warts in sub- 

 ventral space. Feet shiny black, the claspers of the abdominal, 

 paler. Length g mm. 



Fifth Larval Stage. — Head as before. Body black, dorsal 

 line whitish, narrow and faint. Hair very bristly, black, but mixed 

 with brown hairs, especially from the lower warts. Length .13 mm. 



Sixth Larval Stage. — Head black, the mouth slightly paler, 

 a few hairs about the mouth. Body black, with a trace of dorsal 

 line. Abdominal legs reddish. Hair black, mixed with brown. 

 Length 20 mm. 



