lOf PSYCHE [October 



shastaensis. I recently saw these and they are strikingly different from our form, 

 being very black, Avhile ours have but little purplish, occasionally but a tinge, and 

 I think specimens could be found quite destitute of purplish. Dr. Dyar says, "The 

 form is constant" and if that is the case the specimens from Mt. Shasta would repre- 

 sent a new variety at least, if the insect found here is shastaensis. Dyar also writes 

 that Boisduval's description applies also to arizoncnsis Strecker, but this he places 

 as a synonym of eglanterina. Also according to Dyar, egJanterina ranges from the 

 Rocky Mountains to Arizona yet Dr. Boisduval (Lep. de la Californie) says of his 

 specimens "Ce bel insect a ete eleve de chenilles sur les Eglantiers, rosiers sauvages, 

 sur les bords du San Joachim." Holland^ places both shastaensis Behrens (not Behr) 

 and denudata Neum., as synonyms of eglanterina. Smith " gives both eglanterina 

 and shastaensis specific rank, with arizonensis as a synonym and nuttaUi Strecker 

 as a variety of eglanterina, and denudata as a variety of shastaensis. Dyar's arrange- 

 ment concurs with this as does Grote's.^ Eglanterina I would consider the common 

 Californian form as that is the insect to which Boisduval gave his name. Shastaen- 

 sis is the northern or mountain variety and is very black, with scarcely any of the 

 characteristic ground color of eglanterina. This coming season I hope to gather 

 a large series of sj)ecimens for comparison and would be particularly grateful for any 

 representatives of the genus from the Rocky Mountain region. Eglanierina, or the 

 California Orchard Moth, as it may be called, flies in California in early fall. In this 

 valley it comes out in September but I have had imagos emerge in confinement as 

 late as the middle of October. Seen flying through the streets of the towns, as it 

 occasionally does, it appears to be a very wary insect but in the prune orchards, where 

 it flies in countless numbers, it may be taken very easily for the flight there is low and 

 lazy and sometimes as many as five or six may be taken with one sweep of the net. 

 They are strictly diurnal and begin flpng from ten to eleven in the morning and re- 

 maining on the wing until about three in the afternoon. The condition of the weather 

 seems to have no effect on their flying habits. The female is much rarer than the 

 male. Upon emergence, she frequently finds herself the center of attraction of a 

 cluster of frenzied suitors. I have occasionally noticed the fact, reported by Wright, 

 that when a male touches the female with his antennae, be becomes alarmed and 

 leaves the spot with all possible speed. The flight of an ova laden female is very 

 labored and slow and she is frequently obliged to rid herself of some of her burden 

 before being able to reach the proper situation. Eggs are thus commonly found on 

 the bark at the base of trees and even barb-wire fences are sometimes studded with 



• Holland, Moth Book, p. 93, 1903. 

 -' vSmith, Cat. North American Lepid., 1903. 

 Grote, Die Saturniiden 1896. 



