PAPILIO. 



Prgan of tl^e ]^ew Jork Entomological piub. 



Vol.1.] May 31, 1881. [No. 5. 



NOTES ON THE GENUS CLISIOCAMPA, Curtis. 



WitA description of New Species. 

 By R. H. Stretch, 



Probably there is no group of Bombycidae inhabiting this 

 country more worthy of earnest study than the one now under 

 consideration. In an economical point of view, the agriculturist 

 and the pomologist are liable to their attacks, while many of our 

 ornamental trees and shrubs are marked by the depredations of 

 the caterpillars. Their great abundance in certain seasons, and 

 their extremely interesting habits, also serve to draw attention to 

 these insects, while the difificulty which exists in clearly defining 

 the various species, offers another incentive to the investigations 

 of entomologists. 



In studying the genus, we must depend chiefly on the trans- 

 formations for the separation of species, and where these are un- 

 known, not so much on color as on the structure and proportion 

 of the markings, as the species are very variable and approach 

 each other closely in the imagines. 



The descriptions of some of the earlier stages are now, I be- 

 lieve, given for the first time. The genus has, undoubtedly been 

 very properly separated from Gastropacha and from Bombyx, 

 which latter included insects of different structure and of extreme- 

 ly different habits. Clisiocampa is thus well defined by Stainton : 



Imago. 



"Antennae pectinated in the $, ciliated in the ? ; abdomen 

 of $ rather stout and pointed; wings densely clothed with scales. 

 Larva gregarious when young, dispersing before becoming full 

 fed. Pupa enclosed in a cocoon of moderately fine texture, not 

 transparent, because intermixed with a sulphur colored powder." 



