1904] DYAR:— NORTH AMERICAN GEOMETRIDAE 75 



LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GEOMETRIDAE— LV. 



BY HARRISON G. DYAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Hyperitis amicaria Herrich-Schaeffer. Dr. Packard has copied a figure of Abbot's of 

 the larva; there is a description by Mr. Saunders extant (Can. Ent., Ill, 209, 1871) and I 

 have described the last two stages from New York larvae (Ent. News, V, 62, 1894). My de- 

 scription agrees with Abbot's figure, but Saunders seems to have had quite a different larva, 

 while the larvae here described from British Columbia are different from either. My New 

 York specimen was of the form ami'carta and so was probably Abbot's, since it is called 

 nyssaria by Guende. What form Saunders had, I cannot tell ; he called it alietiaria. The 

 British Columbian specimens are of the form alienaria H.-S., rather smaller than Eastern 

 specimens and with the transverse-anterior line less angled. It would appear possible that 

 these supposed varieties represent species. The Eastern forms must be bred again. 



Egg. Elliptical, flattened above and below, forming a distinct flat area in the middle of 

 the side ; ends essentially alike without distinct depression or truncation. Reticulations 

 regularly hexagonal, obscure, nearly obsolete on the sides, more distinct in the flattening. 

 Waxy white, shining; size .75 X .5 X -4 mm. Laid singly, adherent. 



Stage I. Head round, erect, luteus, eye black, mouth brown; body moderate, not elon- 

 gate, but rapidly looping. No markings ; tubercles and setae invisible ; pale yellowish, 

 green from the food, the incisures folded yellowish. 



Stage II. Head rounded, luteous, slightly pruinose whitish ; width .5 mm. Body moder- 

 ate, translucent green from the food, segmental incisures folded, yellowish; no marks; 

 tubercles and setae invisible. 



Stage III. Head bilobed, thick, oblique, yellowish green, not shining; width .95 mm. 

 Body moderate, the segments finely annulate, green, translucent; a narrow white subdorsal 

 line on joints 2 to 13. Segmental folds form yellowish bands ; feet green ; tubercles obso- 

 lete ; setae minute, brownish swollen tipped. 



Stage IV. As before ; width of head 1.4 mm. Subdorsal line rather broad, yellowish 

 white, not contrasted. Rather short, the segments not much longer than wide ; a ventral 

 yellowish white band and a similarly colored spot on tubercle vii. Joint 9 is slightly thick- 

 ened dorsally. 



Stage V. Head slightly bilobed, whitish green, mottled with darker green, slightly 

 purplish spots ; width 2.1 mm. Body cylindrical, a double rounded hump on joint 9, the 

 segments wrinkly annulate posteriorly. Green or washed with brown ; subdorsal line 

 broad, diffuse, whitish or only pale, the humps on joint 9 spotted with dark brown, the 

 tubercles indicated by brown dots ; spiracles black ringed ; setae dark, pointed, not long. A 

 row of obscure whitish spots subventrally anteriorly on the segments and a broad ventral 

 band scarcely paler than the ground color. Later the head has a purplish vertical shade on 

 the lobes and the body is strigose with purplish. 



The larvae were fed on wild cherry. Eggs from Kaslo, British Columbia. 



