840 FIFTH KEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



17. The fir harlequin caterpillar. 



Olygia versicolor Grote. 

 Order Lepidoptera ; family Noctuid.e. 



Late iu summer iu Maine, feeding ou the leaves of the fir and spruce, 

 is to be found a singularly humped and spotted caterpillar, with four 

 pairs of abdominal legs.* 



Professor Eiley writes me as follows regarding this insect : 



The same species was also fouud iu Virginia July 5, feeding on birch, walnut, and 

 one also on dead oak leaves, ou which later all were feeding. 



The Virginia specimens were all parasitized except one, from which the moth 

 issued July 2'2. 



6 



Oi 



Fig. 282. — Olygia versicolor: a, from blown specimen, Marx del; b, from alcoholic, Brigham del. 



Larva. — Body short, much swollen on the second ring behind the head and the 

 first abdominal segment, and humped between the last and the penultimate abdomi- 

 nal legs. Head very small, striped with black. Grouud tint a wood color mottled 

 with gray and black, with scattered white spots. An irregular lilac dorsal band. 

 A pair of conspicuous white dots on the hump behind the head, and another pair on 

 the posterior hump. Body very much variegated in tints and it is difficult to describe 

 briefly all the details of the markings. Length, 12 to 14™™. 



Pupa. — Body short and thick ; the end of the abdomen unusually blunt, and 

 rounded. Cremaster (or terminal spine) rudimentary, minute, with two outwardly 

 curved divergent long slender spines. Length, 10""". 



18. Noctuid larva. 



This Noctuid larva occurred ou the spruce in Maine. 



Larva. — Body a little higher than wide, especially posteriorly. Head small, 

 rounded, somewhat bilobed, not quite so wide as the prothoracic segment, which is 

 narrower than the two succeeding segments and narrower than the metathoracic 

 segment. The body is thickest and highest in the middle. Ou the third segment 

 from the end is a conspicuous hump somewhat divided, with a pair of lesser tubercles 

 behind. Anal legs oblique and rather long and large. Body velvety brown, but 

 with somewhat of a reddish tinge. On each segment a large triangular area, the 

 apex directed backwards. Also on each segment a transverse row of black warts 

 and two iu front, so that the four dorsal warts are in a trapezoid. The side of the 

 hump near the end of the body is paler and in front is a lateral conspicuous yellowish 

 streak. Length, 11""". 



19. Noctuid larva. 



This caterpillar occurred in the Adirondacks at Keene Flats, in June. 



Larva. — It was pale green, the color of the spruce leaves, of the usual smooth form, 

 with five white distinct lines. Head shining and green. Length, 15'"™. 



* Described by Grote in Can. Ent., vii, PI. 1, fig. 4. See also Smith, Ent. Amer., 

 Aug., 1889, p. 119. 



