248 



PSYCHE. 



[April iS92. 



THE LARVA OF NOLA MINUSCULA. 



BY HARRISON G. DYAR, YOSEMITE, CAL. 



Nola minuscula Zeller. 



1872. Zeller, Verhandl. d. k. k. zool.-bot. 

 gesellsch., v. 22, 455. 



Var. fuscula Grote. 



1881. Grote, Papilio, v. 1,76. 



1887. Butler, Ent. atner., v. 3, 120. fr. 

 var. 



1887. Grote, Ent. amer., v. 3, 147. pr. 

 var. 



The larva of this species probably has six 

 stages, five of which I have observed. 



Egg. The eggs as taken from the body of 

 a $ moth are spheroidal, much flattened at 

 base, apparently covered with large contigu- 

 ous depressions; color uniform pale green; 

 diameter about 0.33 mm. 



First larval stage. Not observed. 



Second stage. Head, cervical shield and 

 anal plate black; width of the first 0.25 mm. 

 Body thick and plump, not different in 

 structure from that of the mature larva, the 

 warts small, dark brown, bearing three or 

 four rather short blackish hairs. Color pale 

 whitish, with a broad diffuse brown sub- 

 dorsal shade. 



Third stage. The head is now pale brown 

 with black ocelli ; width 0.3 mm. The body 

 is as before but the brown subdorsal band is 

 more distinct. 



Fourth stage. Head brown, the ocelli and 

 mouth darker brown ; width 0.5 mm. Other- 

 wise much as in the next stage but the mark- 

 ings less distinct. 



Fifth stage. Head small, round, pale 

 brown; width 0.7 mm. Body thick, some- 

 what flattened, tapering a little each way 

 from the middle, with three rows of large, 

 smooth, shining dark brown warts, the third 

 row pale, bearing spreading, long, thin, 

 white and blackish hairs. Row 1 is sub- 

 dorsal, two on each segment on joints 2-4, 

 2 lateral and 3 subventral with some very 



minute warts, 4 below. Cervical shield 

 large, deep brown with a whitish dorsal 

 line bisecting it. Color of bodj sordid 

 white, a pair of broad deep brown subdorsal 

 bands, somewhat irregular, narrow on joints 

 3 and 4 and connected b}' a transverse bar 

 over the dorsum on joint 7 and sometimes 

 also on joint 5. Length of larva 5 mm. 



Sixth stage. Head as before ; width 1 mm- 

 Body wider than high, rounded, hardly 

 tapering at all, feet as in Nola with only four 

 pair of abdominal ones. Warts 1 very 

 large, oblong as if of two coalesced, 2 and 

 3 also large, 4 very small, subventral. The 

 color varies much in different examples but 

 the ground color is nearly white or tinged 

 with reddish, the body shaded with blackish 

 brown more or less, having a double dorsal, 

 two waved lateral and a straight substigmatal 

 line of the ground color, or the black may be 

 reduced to a few reddish streaks, but always 

 on joints 3 and 4 is a patch of the ground 

 color bordered by a waved subdorsal black 

 line. Warts pale, except rows 1 and 2 on 

 joints 5-12 which are cinnamon brown or 

 partly blackish. Cervical shield deep shiny 

 brown, bisected. In one the warts of row 

 3 are yellowish. Spiracles black. Hair of 

 irregular length, but longest at the extrem- 

 ities, blackish. 



Cocoon. Elliptical, opaque, sordid white, 

 composed of white silk, quite tough and in- 

 termingled sparsely with the larval hairs. 

 Dimensions 8X4 mm. 



Pupa. Cylindrical, tapering each way 

 from the middle but most posteriorly; abdo" 

 men rounded, no cremaster. Body, except 

 the cases, covered with long, rather dense 

 pile; color pale brown, paler on the cases. 

 Length 6 mm. ; width 1.7 mm. Duration of 

 this stage 18 days. 



Food plant. Willow (Salix). The larvae 



