INSECTS INJURING OAK-LEAVES. 127 



170. The rosy-striped oak-worm. 



Anisota pellucida Hiibner. 



Order Lepidoptera ; family Bombycid^. 



Eating the leaves in July, in New York, a two-horned prickly worm of an obscure 

 gray or greenish color, with dull brownish-yellow or rosy stripes, and its skin rough 

 from white granules. 



This species has been said by Fitch to have been common for many 

 years in Salem, N. Y., where A. stigma has seldom been seen. The worms 

 mostly enter the ground to transform into the pupa early in August, 

 though some remain on the trees as late as the middle of September. 



The following description is copied from Prof. G. H. French's Report 

 of the Curator of the Museum of the Southern Illinois Normal Uni- 

 versity, 1880. They occurred on different species of oak during the 

 middle and last of September, most of them pupating by October 2 in 

 the soil. 



Larva. — Length about 1.2.5 inches. General color pale dull green, striped with fine 

 red substigmatal, subdorsal, and dorsal stripes, the last very pale, so as to be almost 

 obsolete. Head with a slightly yellowish tinge. On each segment there are six 

 short black thorns or sharp points, the two on the back of the second segment behind 

 the head being about one-fourth inch long, but the rest much shorter. 



We add also the following description furnished by Dr. Riley, who 

 has compared it with the caterpillar of Anisota stigma : 



A. pellucida comes nearest to A. stigma in general appearance, but the spines are 

 shorter, more pointed, uniformly black; the color is darker, being almost black, so 

 that the papillae, which are ratber denser, give the dark portion a bluish cast ; the 

 subdorsal and stigmatal Hues are of a more intense red, inclining to pink, and the 

 stigmatal line is rather broader than the subdorsal. The average length is somewhat 

 less and the larva more slender than in stigma; the shorter, blacker spines, deeper 

 colors, and stronger contrast between the lines at once separating it from stigma* 



Specimens, without much doubt belonging to this species, though we 

 have not found the moth in Maine, occurred on the red oak at Bruns- 

 wick, Me., August 28. The body was greenish, with dark dorsal aud 

 lateral, not "reddish," bands. 



Moth. — Besides being smaller, the male differs from those of A. stigma and senatoria 

 in the hind wings being distinctly triangular, the outer edge being straight and the 

 hind angle somewhat produced ; the fore wings are also decidedly narrower, while 

 the white discal spot is considerably larger, and the \yiugs are throughout consider- 

 ably darker and free from dark spots. Expanse of wings of male, 40""". 



* Found on different kinds of oak, October 2, 1873, many larvae looking like A. 

 stigma. The form is the same, but they differ considerably from them in color and 

 markings. It is to be distinguished from A. stigma in its smaller size, in the ground 

 color of the dark parts being blacker, the papillEe being yellow instead of white, and in 

 the paler vittae being of a deep pink or lake-red. The head and anal shield are more 

 olivaceous and the spines are shorter and stouter. The whole larva is more brightly 

 and distinctly marked. Moths issued April 22, 1874. 



Some of the dried larva skins were brought from Loudoun County, Va., in July, 

 1881. (Riley's unpublished notes). 



