94 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Pliisia (lyans Grote. 



(Ord- Lepidoptera: Fam. Noctuid^.) 

 Gkote : ill Cauadian Entomologist, viii, 1875, pp. 203-4. 



Several of the caterpillars of this beautiful moth were received in the 

 month of February, from Dr. R. H. Sabin, of West Troy, N. Y. They 

 had been taken from his conservatory, where they had been proving 

 quite destructive to a number of the plants. They had first been dis- 

 covered upon a heliotrope which was nearly destroyed before the attack 

 was noticed. They were picked off by hand and killed, as they were of 

 large size — about an inch in length — and readily found, both by the 

 eaten leaves and the masses of excremental matter adhering to the 

 foliage below them. Subsequently others were discovered, feeding 

 quite as greedily upon different species of Geranium, brookmansia, 

 easter-plant {Eupo.lorium ageretoicles), stevia, etc. They seemed espe- 

 cially fond of the Wandering Jew (Tradescantia), the succulent leaves 

 of which were rapidly consumed with evident relish. 



The insect had never before been observed by Dr. Sabin, nor, indeed, 

 any such formidable mid-winter attack in his conservatory — the season 

 in which we naturally expect to enjoy immunity from insect ravages. 



The Caterpillar. 



The caterpillars were innocent-looking creatures, with their small 

 head and attenuated form, in their pale-green garb, delicate white lin- 

 ings and transparent skin, through which the pulsation of the dorsal ves- 

 sel (the heart) was plainly to be seen. Their peculiar looping move- 

 ment in walking is like that of Plusia brassicm, as all the species of the 

 genus Plusia are provided only with six pairs of legs in lieu of the nor- 

 mal number among the Noctuidce, of eight. 



As the caterpillar has not been described, the following detailed de- 

 scription of it is given : 



Length at maturity, from 1.3 to 1.5 of an inch ; regularly increasing 

 in size from the head to the penultimate segment. The head is round, 

 flattened in front, and of a shining apple-green color ; the mandibles 

 are black-tipped ; the labium pearly white ; the clypeus transparent, 

 disclosing internal organs; the ocelli are black. A few hairs are observ- 

 able upon the sides of the head which are nearly as long as its diameter. 

 The breadth of the head is about one-fourth that of the eleventh (the 

 broadest) segment, and nearly equal to that of the first. 



The body is clear apple-green in color upon the sides and beneath. 



