November, igoz] 



FS YCHE. 



413 



At this stage many died from a disease 

 which killed also many of my excoccatus 

 and all my p>-onii'thea larvae, and many 

 of Miss Eliot's hybrids in Nonquitt. 



The '"pnvnetkt'a form " spun after the 

 fourth moult, but most of the " cyiithia 

 form " moulted a fifth time. 



After this moult they were like the 

 last stage, but much greener and with 

 much less bloom. 



In this stage more died from the 

 same disease, though each was given a 

 tin by itself. 



It is not possible to give in writing 

 any adequate idea of the variety or the 



beauty of this ^'' cynthia form." Both 

 forms came from eggs laid by the same 

 moth and kept separate from other eggs 

 laid after similar mating. 



I think that anyone can obtain fertile 

 eggs of hybrids of Attacine moths by 

 following my plan of arranging the 

 cages for mating, although every coition 

 may not result in fertile eggs. 



Eggs laid by a female cynthia which 

 I found out of doors mated with a male 

 A. cecropia failed to give larvae, as did 

 eggs laid by cynthia females mated with 

 promcthea males. 



GROUP CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME NORTH AMERICAN BUT- 

 TERFLIES— V. 



BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



Apostraphia Hiibner. 



Caterpillar at birth : All the tubercles 

 rounded conical, one to a segment in 

 each row but the infrastigmatal where 

 there are two, three rows on each side 

 besides a supralateral series with append- 

 ages less than half as long as the others. 

 Mature caterpillar: Head covered with 

 a pair of slender, tapering, slightly re- 

 curved spines. Each side of body with 

 three rows of very long and slender 

 straight, very scantily bristled spines, 

 those of the upper rows equal and half 

 as long again as the segments. Chrys- 

 alis : Body with strong laminate protu- 

 berances, the frontal pair excessively 



elongate, widely divergent, ribbon-like 

 and serrate; antennal joints conspic- 

 uously spined ; third abdominal segment 

 and the adjoining segments to some 

 extent with it with a laminate laterodorsal 

 flange crowned as the other abdominal 

 tubercles with slender aciculate spines. 



Apostraphia charithonia L. {Helicoiiia 

 cliaritoiiia Auct.). Bulterfly. Wings rich 

 blackish brown above, a little paler below. 

 Fore wings crossed by three narrow yellow 

 stripes, the middle one running obliquely 

 from costa, past the tip of cell toward the 

 middle of the outer border ; another subparal- 

 lel to it midway to the tip of wing ; the third 

 following the black median vein to its first 

 fork and here bent abruptly parallel to the 

 others. Hind wings with a rather narrow 



