INSECTS INJURING OAK-LEAVES. 137 



segment is still wide in front, as before. Each of the two black conspicuous tubercles 

 gives rise to a small, black, slender pencil of hairs. 



M stage. — After 2d molt, Aug. 10-12. Length 7™™. The distinctive characters of 

 the fully grown larva are now apparent. The head is entirelj'^ concealed by the 

 overarching hairs arising from the prothoracic segment. All the hairs are now ash- 

 gray in hue, except those on a large dark area forming the thoracic tuft and a naked 

 area on the posterior third of the body, which bears the two whitish retractile papil- 

 lae. There is a large, black, low, dense tuft on the 8th abdominal segment. It is 

 now a wonderfully beautiful larva, the hairs are so long, soft, and feathery. 



4th stage. — After the 3d molt, Aug. 25. Length 12-14™™. not including the protho- 

 racic pencils, which are now one-half as long as the body. It differs in this stage 

 chiefly in the longer and larger, more distinct black pencils arising from just behind 

 the head. 



In this stage, represented by Fig. 3 of Plate xxxv, the body contracted in length 

 and the larva ceased feeding in Maine (the eggs having been mostly laid in Aiken, 

 S. C), and most of them died. It evidently hibernates in this stage, not probably 

 completing its transformations until the following midsummer in the Northern States. 

 In the Southern States it is probably double-brooded.* 



5th and last stage. — Length of body, without the pencils, 3.5™™. From a colored 

 sketch by Mr. Bridgham of a larva found wandering at Providence July 29, a pair of 

 long, blackish pencils, but little shorter than those in front, arises from the 9th ab- 

 dominal segment. 



Professor Riley, in some notes on the eversible glands in larvse of 

 Orgyia and Parorgyia, and on the synonymy of the species (Proc. Ent. 

 Soc, Washington, vol. i, p. 88). remarks: 



" I also exhibit blown larvae of a Parorgyia, which, from the bred specimens, I be- 

 lieve to be P. leucophcea Smith & Abbott. I have bred one male of this from the larva 

 feeding on Persimmon. In an endeavor to determine my bred material in this genus. 

 I have concluded that there are fewer species than have been made by Lepidopterists. 

 The imagos vary considerably in details of coloration and markings, and it is quite 

 probable that obliquata will prove to be synonymous with leucophcea. The larva, as 

 figured by Smith and Abbott, is probably misleading, in having the dorsal tufts too 

 conspicuously shown on joints 8, 9, and 10, for in my specimens they have been, as in 

 other species of this genus, large and conspicuous on joints 4, 5, 6, and 7, inclusive, 

 but far less so on the other joints. 



"I also exhibit various blown larvae of Parorgyia clintonii Gr. These vary in the 

 color of the tufts according to state of growth, and there is also individual variation. 

 My original specimens were found feeding on honey locust, but I have also found it 

 on various other plants, as wild plum, elm, etc. Both these Parorgyia larvae show 

 the same eversible glands, though they are less conspicuous than in Orgyia, on ac- 

 count of the greater density of the hairs surrounding them. As to the synonymy of 

 this species, my experience with the adolescent states leaves little doubt that clintonii 

 is a synonym of achatina Sm. & Abb., and I question whether, with more complete 

 knowledge, parallela and basiflava and even cinnamomea will not prove synonymous 

 with the same species." 



190. Parorgyia leucophcea (Abbot and Smith). 



According to Abbot and Smith, the caterpillar feeds on the live oali 

 and other species of oaks. "It spun a thin pale brown web April 20, 

 in Georgia, and came forth on the wing the 9th of May." 



In the male of this species, of which I now regard P. clintonii G. and 



'Compare Dr. Lintner's statements in Entomological Contributions, iil, 129. 



