414 



PSrCHE. 



[August 1S96. 



From the foregoing I believe that the 

 status quo of Apatela remains virtually 

 unchangeil since my paper in Papilio, 

 iii, 116, 1SS3. The list there given by 

 me of unidentified names can only be 

 safely changed to-day by the elimination 

 of two of Harris' posthumous names 

 based on larvae : Ulmi Harris, being 

 based on larvae belonging to morula, 

 as Prof. vSmith tells us, and is therefore 

 a synonym ; while pruni Harris may 

 be used for the species called by me 

 clarescetis, since tiie evidence is that 

 Guen^e's clai-escens is not mine, 

 although exactly what it is is not made 

 out unquestionably. As before, the 

 "future monographer" whom we are 

 ail expecting (I wish I had the naming 

 of him) must busy himself with the 

 question of what Guenee really described 

 under the names : spinigera, tclum, 

 interrupta, and longa, and he will do 

 well to reject interrufta altogether, as 

 founded on a figure which, in this dif- 

 ficult genus, will hardly be admitted as 

 a proper basis for a description and 

 name. It will shorten his labors by so 



much. He will have also to decide 

 what Abbot intends by his plates of 

 aceris and hastulifera, and he will 

 have an easier task to make out Harris' 

 remaining name salicis. I shall be 

 glad if the other names in the cata- 

 logue, which are mainly based on mv 

 identifications, receive iiis confirmation. 

 But he must conscientiously compare 

 Guenee's text with the material, inas- 

 much as names derive their authoritv 

 from literature, not from labelled speci- 

 mens, however convenient these niav 

 be as a substitute for the somewhat 

 arduous labor of making a specimen 

 " function" to a description. 



Note. — Since finishing this article I have 

 received a letter from Mr. Harrison G. Dyar, 

 who kindl}' informs me that the larva figured 

 in Harris' Correspondence under the name 

 salicis, belongs to oblinita. If there is any 

 difference between our northern species and 

 oblinita as figured by Abbot, we have a 

 name in salicis for the northern form. Dr. 

 Thaxter called my attention to material col- 

 lected by him in Florida, but I was not able 

 to find any points of specific distinction as 

 compared with northern oblinita. 



PREPARATORY STAGES OF COSMOSOMA AUGE LINN. 



BY HARRISON G. DYAR, NEW YORK. 



A full fed larva was found at Lake Worth, 

 Florida, late in December and eggs were 

 obtained from several female moths found 

 flying over the flowers of some vines of 

 Mikania scandens growing in the swamp. 

 lam much indebted to Mi. F. Kinzel of Palm 

 Beach, who has kindly sent me leaves of 

 the food plant every fe\iv days, and thus 

 enabled me to raise the larvae and observe 

 their stages. 



Eggs. Rather low conoidal with flat base ; 

 smooth, shining, translucent, waxy white, 

 faintly tinged with yellow; no marks under 

 a hand lens. Under a half-inch objective the 

 reticulations are linear, rounded, hexagonal, 

 irregular, even four-sided, scarcely raised. 

 Diameter 0.8 mm., height 0.6 inm. Usually 

 laid singly on the young leaves of the food 

 plant. Duration of this stage eight days. 



Stage I. Head colorless, eyes black. 



