BREPHIDES. 353 



by a large black blotch covered with golden-yellow hairs, and 

 this is united with a broken black transverse stripe from the 

 costa ; hind margin bordered by an irregular, indented, black- 

 stripe ; cilia black, mixed with yellowish-white. The female 

 has slender simple antennas, the fore wings shorter and a 

 little narrower, and the abdomen rather stout; the ground 

 colour of its fore wings is often paler, especially in a trans- 

 verse band of greyish-white at the base and another beyond 

 the middle. 



Underside of the fore wings orange-tawny ; on the costa 

 beyond the middle is a black blotch or produced spot, 

 followed by a white cloud on the costa, and this by a 

 broad dull black blotch which occupies the apical region, 

 and is continued along the hind margin. Hind wings 

 orange-tawny, the black markings as on the upper side, 

 except that the central black transverse stripe is more 

 complete. Body and legs black, covered with a yellowish 

 down. 



Variation in this species is not great, and shows itself 

 mainly in the direction of elimination of the whitish -grey or 

 dusky stripes, which then are more or less replaced \>j the 

 ground colour, or even by a more purplish-brown tone thereof, 

 some specimens having the fore wings almost unicolorous • 

 on the other hand, very occasional specimens have the grey 

 bands hoary, or even almost white. Of this last form Major 

 A. Ficklin possesses a beautiful example. 



On the wing in April. 



Larva about an inch in length, not very stout, cylindrical 

 and almost of uniform bulk throughout; head full and 

 rounded, green or yellow-greeD ; spotted, as is the second 

 segment, with black ; the two front pairs of ventral legs are 

 much less developed than the next two pairs, and the hind- 

 most are splayed laterally ; beneath the anal flap is a small 

 point with a tubercle on each side of it ; the segments are 

 plump and well defined ; ground colour a pale subdued tint 



