34 



anterior margin red. Posterior wings almost transparent, dirty cream-coloured, tinged with red, whereon 

 are many oblong sooty spots. Ciliae cream-coloured, within which is a narrow red line. 



Under Side. The colours are more faint and dirty than those on the upper. Anterior femora red, 

 with two black spots thereon, close to the head. Tarsi black and cream-coloured. 



The caterpillar of this insect is brown, with five pale longitudinal Imes, and with long 

 hairs arising from fulvous tubercles. It feeds, according to Abbot, upon plantain, corn, 

 peas, and many other plants. A specimen observed by this author was hatched on the 

 23d of July, spun up on the 28th of August, and the moth appeared on the 9th of Septem- 

 ber. It is said occasionally to make great devastation among Indian corn. Sir J. E. 

 Smith ascertained the specific identity of this insect from Dr. Hunter's Museum, examined 

 by Fabricius, who has neglected to cite Drurj^s figure. 



SPILOSOMA CUNEA. 



Plate XVIII. fig. 4. 



Okder : Lepidoptera. Section : Nocturna. Family : Arctiidse. 



Genus. Spilosoma, Sicja/i. Arctia, iai/-. Eyprepia, Ot7w. Phalsena (Noctua),i>)-«/'!/. 



Spilosoma Ccnea. Alis albis, anticis maculis permultis, posticis duabus nigris, abdomine concolori nigro-maculato. 

 (Expans. Alar. 1 imc. 51in.) 



Syn. PhalEena (Bombyx) Cunea, Drury, App. v. 2. 



Phalsena piinctatissima, Abbot and Smith, Ins. Gcory. t.70 '! 



Habitat : New York {Drury}. Georgia and Virginia (Abbot and Smith). 



Upper Side. Antennae pectinated and black. There is no appearance of any tongue. Head white. 

 Back and abdomen ash colour. Anterior wings white, with a great number of spots differently shaped 

 of a sooty black colour. On the external margin are five spots, those nearest the tips being shaped like 

 triangles. Posterior wings white, with a sooty spot on each near the external edge, and a very faint 

 small mark near the exterior angle. 



Under Side. Legs black. Breast and abdomen ash colour. The wings marked as on the upper side. 



There seems little reason for doubting that this is identical with the Phalaena puncta- 

 tissima of Abbot and Smith, of which the female is entirely white. The last named species 

 feeds upon the mulberry, persimmon, willow, and wild cherry of America. One observed by 

 Abbot spun up on the l6th of jVIay, and came out on the 1st of June. The whole brood of 

 caterpillars feed together in a web, and will often entirely destroy the leaves of a small 

 tree. The name proposed by Drury evidently alludes to the triangular spots on the margin 

 of the anterior wings, and seems quite as expressive as that employed by Sir J. E. Smith, 

 who seems to have treated Drury's work on several occasions as scarcely deserving of 

 notice. 



