208 Forty-second Report on the State Museum. [G6] 



into the black stripes above. Next below is a broad, black, lateral 

 stripe, traversed by an irregular white one, which is contracted on 

 each segment so as to leave thereon a large rounded black spot 

 united with the lower margin of the black stripe. The stigmatal 

 stripe, next in order, is yellow, somewhat narrower than the subdorsal 

 yellow one, bearing a row of black setiferous tubercles, similar to 

 those in the superior yellow stripe, of which the anterior ones are 

 merged in the black above. Below this, and centrally, the body is 

 blackish, paler mesially. The legs and prolegs are reddish, the latter 

 •with a black patch outwardly. 



The larvae, at this time, have molted twice — possibly three times. 



From the above details, it will be seen that the caterpillar is marked 

 with seven distinct stripes, viz., three black ones (a dorsal and two 

 lateral) and four yellow ones (two subdorsal and two stigmatal). 



The Nearly Mature Larva. 

 In the stage previous to the last molt, the broad, dorsal black 

 stripe is traversed medially by a narrow white line, and is marked on 

 the hinderpart of segments three to nine with two small white dots. 

 The broad, black lateral band consists of the black runic markings, 

 with white interspaces, characteristic of the last stages of this larva. 



A Peculiar Parasitic Attack. 

 In this stage sis of the caterpillars disclosed a parasitic attack. In 

 each instance, underneath the last segment of the larva, and usually 

 placed transversely to it, an elongated brown cocoon, about twice as 

 long as broad, was found attached.* Its formation was not observed. 

 The diameter of the cocoon about equals that of the caterpillar. The 

 parasitic larva may have emerged through the anus, as no rupture in 

 the skin was observed. The cocoons were formed June twenty-second 

 to June twentj^-sixth. The cocoon and the insects emerging there- 

 from (date not known) are identical with those subsequently described 

 by Mr. Clarence M. Weed {loc. cit.), of the Ohio Agricultural Ex^Deri- 

 ment Station, as Microplitia mamestrai. 



Transformations . 



On the twenty-seventh of June the larvae had matured and entered 

 the ground for pupation. The moths emerged August eleventh to 

 eighteenth, and deposited eggs, the earliest of which hatched August 

 twentieth. 



It will be observed, from the above, that there are two broods of 

 this insect each year — the first of which appears abroad in the 

 winged state about the latter part of May, and deposits the eggs for 



* Mr. Weed found the cocoons " fastened transversely between the anal prolegs." 



