128 FIFTH ANNUAL REPOKT 



which I have bred at different times, those on the front wings more 

 especially are sometimes narrowed so as almost to be obsolete, at 

 others broadened so as to separate the discal spot from the black 

 basal portion ; and Mr. Lintner, who has recently given the most 

 complete and minute account of the insect ever published,* figures 

 and describes a bred male in which, on the front wings, they are en- 

 tirely obsolete, and which, if it had been captured at large, would 

 doubtless have furnished some describer the material for a new 

 species. The female antennas below, the hair on the thighs, and two 

 small tufts behind the thorax, are brick-red, and the male differs from 

 the female (Fig. GO) in having broader, black antennas and a smaller 

 abdomen, tipped with a large tuft of brick-red hair. Tiie collar is 

 cream-white, and the black hairs of the body more or less sprinkled 

 with hairs of the same pale color, f It ranges from Maine to Georgia, 

 and west to the western part of Kansas. Two closely allied species 

 which may prove to be but geographical varieties are also described 

 from California. 



THE EGGS 



Are deposited in naked belts (Fig. 61) of from 100 to 200, but not fas- 

 tened together so tightly, nor in the same regular order, as those of 

 LFig. 61] the Tent-caterpillar of the Forest (3d Rep., Fig. 52, a). Holding 

 firmly by all of her feet, the female stations herself upon a 

 twig, with her head usually toward its end. She then stretches 

 her abdomen to its fullest and fastens the first egg ; another is 

 then attached by its side, and so on, the body reaching round 

 the twig without letting go the feet. In this manner, governed 

 by the thickness of the twig, an irregular, somewhat spiral 

 ring is formed and ethers added, until toward the last the abdor 

 men is raised and the ovipositor brought up between the legs. 

 The lower or first deposited rows, incline so as to almost lie on 

 their sides. The color of these eggs is at first a pale greenish- 

 cream, becoming more yellowish with age, and they contain 

 a sticky, deep, blood-red fluid. Each egg is obovate, about 0.05 inch 

 long, and compressed at the sides and at apex. The glutinous fluid, 

 which covers them when deposited, gravitates toward the attached 

 ends and sides, where, in consequence, it becomes thicker and dark. 

 From experiment, Mr. Lintner proved that this gum was insoluble 

 either in cold water, alcohol> ether or chloroform; and, boiled for an 

 hour, it only softened a little to harden again upon drying. 



* Entomological Contributions in 33d Ann. Eep. N. Y. State Cab. Nat. Hist., 1869, p. 153. 



t In three of my specimens these light hairs are very prominent, especially on the patagia, and 

 these specimens approach so nearly H. NcvadcnsisBtvcicXi (IIlus. Zygcenida: und Bombycidm of N. A., 

 p. 107, PL 4, Fig. 10) that I should be much more inclined to consider the latter a geographical variety 

 than a true species. Perhaps tlie same may be said of Californica, which appears to agree with Mr. 

 Lintner's bred variety. 



