10 



PSYCHE. 



[January 1900. 



by one brood of larvae, the leaves turned 

 brown and withered. 



Two broods in the jear. Winter passed as 

 pupa in the ground. The larva is common 

 in New York and New Jersey on the wild 



cherry {Pruniis seroiina) ^ its only food 

 plant. Were this plant of any economic im- 

 portance, this Geometrid would be classed 

 among the injurious species. 



LIFE HISTORIE.S OF NORTH AMERICAN GEOME TRIDAE — TX. 



BY HARRISON G. DYAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Tkeyina athasiafia Walker. Tlie moth 

 was determined by Dr. Hulst. 



The only reference to the early stages of 

 this species is by Dr. Packard {T/ieriiia 

 scminndnria, Rept. ent. U. S. dept. Agr , 

 1SS6, p. 329; 5th rept. U. S. ent. comm., p. 

 777), who describes a pupa and gives as food 

 plant white pine. But as this is not the 

 food plant of T. athasiaria, I doubted the 

 determination. The doubt was confirmed bv 

 finding Dr. Packard's bred moth, with his 

 label attached in the National Museum. It 

 proves to be T. fellucidaria G. & R. There- 

 fore the early stages of T. at/iasiaria have 

 not been previously referred to. 



JSgg. Elliptical, narrowing a little at one 

 end, and smoolhly truncate at the other, 

 shining dark bluish green. The truncate sur- 

 face is distinctly limited, and a little bulging 

 centrally. Surface neatly reticulate in 

 rounded areas, the reticulations not shiny, 

 not elevated. Size .8 X .6 X .5 mm. The 

 color changed to a gray green, and latter to 

 sordid pink. Apparently laid in nature in 

 the cracks of the bark. In confinement the 

 moth deposited them between the cover and 

 the glass, and under some paper lying in the 

 bottom. The eggs hatched in ten days. 



Stage I. Head large, round, dark brown, 

 mouth region a little paler brown; setae 

 short, stiff and pale, from minute dark tuber- 

 cles; width about .35 mm. Body whitish, 

 thorax and joints 10 to 13 dorsally, and cir- 

 cling bands on joints 4 to 9 dark red-brown. 

 .Smooth, no projections. The brown on the 



thorax is a slight shading, on joints 10 to 13 

 it is in dorsal and subdorsal bands; feet 

 pale; no longitudinal bands on the central 

 portion, except a very faint and slender 

 brown lateral line which connects the trans- 

 verse bands. The larvae were \itry active, 

 and much annoyed by the presence of others 

 of the same species, so that many died before 

 a lew were finally induced to feed. 



S.'age II. Head white, a little sordid, 

 shaded with blackish at the vertex, and sides 

 posteriorly: eyes black; with .6 nun. Body 

 all opaque white, a little grayish, no marks, 

 except a few tiny dark brown specks snb- 

 dorsally centrally on the segments. In 

 some, this forms a slender subdorsal line 

 with a few faint dots besides. Tubercles 

 brown; segments rather finely annulated. 

 Setae short and pale. 



Stage III. Head i.o mm. As before. 

 Head while with nian\ small brown-black 

 specks; thicker at the sides posteriorl3' and 

 in the sutures of clypeus; rounded bilobed, 

 higher and wider than joint 2. Body pale 

 gray with a slight greenish tint, obscurely 

 longitudinally lined with several whitish 

 lines, and sparsely black speckled. Tuber- 

 cles i and ii, small subdorsal shades poster- 

 iorly on the segments, a subventral broken 

 line, and medioventral dashes compose these 

 speckles. Foot of joint 10, and sides of 

 thorax darkly shaded. Anal plate rounded, 

 not black marked. Setae obscure, pale. The 

 larvae were still very active, and difficult to 

 feed. 



