148 



Food plants, various species of Asclepias, but chiefly A. cornuti. 

 Desc. 



Imago. (Spring brood.): 



Stouter and heavier in appearance than any of the previous species. 

 Entire surface, with the exception of some buff stains at the base of 

 the head, of the wings beneath, and the junction of the coxae, bright 

 mouse-color, the secondaries rather darker in tint. There are no mark- 

 ings whatever upon the wings, and the buff costal edge is entirely 

 wanting. The abdomen is buff above, cream white below, with the 

 usual row of black spots, and in the $ the anal segment is broad, cream 

 white, in strong contrast to the rest. , 



(Fall brood.): 



In this, there is upon the primaries of both sexes, a very decided 

 band of a darker shade than the ground color, very oblique, and deeply 

 dentate outwardly. There are also numerous whitish scales scattered 

 over the surface of the wing. This form has been described by Mr. 

 Grote, though never published, as E. cyclica. 



Exp. wings, 5 30 mm. ? 38 mm. 



With regard to the distribution of the species, I may state that I 

 have seen no examples of E. eglenensis, except from Pennsylvania, New 

 York, and the New England States, while E. egle and E. collaris ap- 

 pear to have their range as far south as Texas, the former of these also 

 appearing in Arizona. 



THE GENUS ARCTIA AND ITS VARIATIONS. 



By B. Neumoegen. 



My good friend, the Rev. Geo. D. Hulst, has lately given us in the 

 Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc.,vol. ii., p. 69, some interesting accounts about 

 the raising of a number of images from the eggs of A. Excelsa, 

 Neum. They proved to be varying greatly, as he says, starting with 

 forms near A. decorata through the F — pallida, Excelsa forms, winding 

 up with specimens tallying with A. figurata. The genus Arctia is 

 extremely variable in its ground forms, as everyone knows, and that 

 specimens greatly varying from the same and highly aberratic should 

 have been baptized by specific names, is only too natural. I myself 

 had some misgivings at the time of naming A. Excelsa as a species, 

 but as the fundamental form was not then known. I preferred to have 

 it go as a species ; the present discovery, to my pleasure, teaches me 

 that it is an aberratic form." While my friend Hulst has been quite 

 successful in establishing interesting facts and thus partly sifting some 

 of the mysterious conceptions of years' standing, I think he has rather 

 been too liberal in his conclusions, which do not warrant his positive 

 way of stating "the synonomy of A. Nais 'stands' as follows," or 

 ''the insect 'stands' A. Parthenice v. Anna." Although I do not 



