202 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
was the depredator. The well known, almost omnivorous habits of the 
larvae and their abundance at the present season in the same field throw a 
very strong suspicion on these caterpillars. 
Description. The eggs are deposited in patches on the under sur- 
face of the leaves, according to Prof. Davis. He also states that a moth 
usually lays from 125 to 150 eggs, though he obtained one cluster of 
452. The young larvae probably vary somewhat in appearance. Dr 
Packard describes them as pale greenish, with four dark stripes on each 
side. Dr Riley states that at first they are almost black, though they 
soon become pale and green, while Prof. Davis found them to be ‘hairy, 
speckled, white caterpillars, with a black head and black crescent on the 
thorax.’ After the first molt, the appearance of the larvae is much the 
same as when matured, according to several writers. In the earlier 
stages, the black dorsal stripe is divided by a median white line and the 
proportionate amount of black is much less than when the larvae are 
nearly mature. The brilliantly colored larva is from 1% to 2 inches 

Fig. rr MAMESTRA PICTA: a, larva; 4, moth (after Riley). 
long when full grown, and may then be recognized by its broad, jet-black 
dorsal stripe. The two bright yellow stripes on each side are separated 
by a broader black area, which is broken by numerous transverse, 
irregular, white lines (fig. 11 and pl. 5). In Dr Lintner’s detailed descrip- 
tion of this larva (see citation), he compares the broken, black stripe to 
a series of letters: IVNW. Beneath the lower yellow line there is more 
or less black, broken by irregular white lines, somewhat as in the lateral 
black stripe above. The head and legs are brick red. 
