THE CALIFOENIAN PHRYGANIDIA. 



123 



" The larva is slender, with the head prominent, globose ; last segment but one 

 humped ; head pale brown; body black above, dirty green below, with a broad dor- 

 sal line of dirty greenish, divided by three narrow black lines, and the sutures 

 faintly marked with same color. There is also a narrow, broken, stigmatal liue of 

 dirty greenish, and a similar line above each of the abdominal legs. Tip of the last 

 segment horny, the segment not being used to assist in progression, but usually 

 slightly elevated; body smooth, transversely wrinkled. Younger specimens chiefly 

 differ in the disproportionate size of the head. Length .90 to 1 inch." (H. Edwards. ) 



Pupa, naked, suspended by the tail, greenish white, with black markings; all the 

 sutures of the head, thorax, legs, and antennae lined with black. The mesothorax has 

 a central black line ; the abdomen has a dorsal row of black jioints on the front edge 

 of each segment, and a lateral row blending into each other towards the anal seg- 

 ment, whichis black ; below with two sublateral series of black transverse spots 

 nearly blending into two longitudiual bands. Length 0.75 inch. (Stretch.) 



Moth. — Sable brown, partially transparent ; antenn<e and veins darker ; fore wings 

 with the costa straight and apex obtuse, subrectangular. The hind wings of the 

 female scarcely reach to the end of the abdomen. Expanse of wings, 1.22 to 1.47 

 inches. 



Mr. Behrens, of San Francisco, 

 writes me that three generations of 

 the Phryganidia appear in a year. 

 ^' In 1875 it, with the larva of the 

 Clisiocampa californica, ate our ever- 

 green oaks to broomsticks. You 

 €ould bear the caterpillars eat and 

 their manure drop, the latter cover- 

 ing everything ; it could be swept 

 together by the bushelful. In the 

 wake of both followed ichneumon 

 parasites." 



This singular insect was originally, 

 from a study of the moth alone, re- 

 ferred by me to the Psychinte, but 

 Mr. R. H. Stretch, with a knowl- 

 edge of its transformations, has 

 shown that I was in error, and has 

 placed it very properly in the Zy- 

 gaenidse, in his valuable work enti- 

 tled Illustrations of the Zygaenidae 

 and Bombycida? of North America 

 (1873). Having recently received 

 specimens of the larvse and pupse 

 from Mr. James Behrens, it was at once evident on a cursory examina- 

 tion that the early stages show all the characteristic features of tbe 

 Zygaenidse. The venation of the moth is, however, unusual, and this, 

 together with the dull-brow^u coloration and semi-hyaline wings, misled 

 me into placing it near Psyche. Mr. A. G. Butler, of the British 

 Museum, regards it as closely allied to BiopHs. 



Fig. 39. — a, larva of Phryganidia californica, 

 after Stretch ; h, pupa ; c, d, end of pupa. Bridg- 

 ham, del. 



