OALIMORPHA PEAR CATERPILLAR. 49 



sides of the breast, the legs, and the costa, or anterior, border of the wings. The ante- 

 rior and middle tarsi and tJie tips of the posterior tarsi are blackish-brown. In some 

 individuals the anterior and middle tibise, or shanks, are also blackish-brown on their 

 outer face. 



This proves to be a pale, and remarkably distinct variety of a very variable species of 

 moth belonging to the genus CaUhnorpha of Latreille. It has been described and 

 named no less than four times, by different authors, as so many distinct species, in the 

 following order of priority : 



Callimorplia Lecontei^ Boisduvol. 



C. militarise Harris. 



G. fulvieosia, Clemens. 



C. ! vesialis, Packard. 



The last variety appears to have been founded upon a pair of small specimens of the 

 preceding one. The descriptions of the two varieties are almost precisely identical. The 

 smaller size and the absence of the blackish tint on the tibiae and tarsi are insufiScient 

 characters to establish a well-marked variety upon, much less a species, especially in so 

 variable an insect as this. In Mr. Walsh's, Mr. Riley's, and my own collections are spec- 

 imens varying nearly as much in size, and in which the black shade upon the legs is of 

 various degrees of distinctness, and in several of the specimens is wholly wanting. 



The other three varieties, however, are so strongly marked, that it is not at all surpri- 

 sing that they have been described as different species. Indeed they never could have 

 been suspected to be the same, were it not that intermediate grades have been discovered 

 which bridge over the space between them. The white variety above described is the 

 fulvieosia. In the militaris the fore wings are bordered nearly all around with dark 

 brown, a band of the same across the end, and also an angular projection from a little 

 beyond the middle of the costal border. In the Leconiel the brown color predominates, 

 so that Dr. Harris describes the fore wing of this variety as being brown, with five large 

 white spots. The hind wings are simply white in all the varieties. 



The caterpillar was first described by me and figured in the Prairie Farmer, where it 

 was, by mistake, assigned to the wrong species. I now place it in its true relations. 

 The following description was taken from the specimens sent by Mr. Ayers: 



Length one inch and a quarter. It may be described in general terms as a blackish, 

 somewhat bristly caterpillar, with a shining black head, and with three narrow but con- 

 spicuous orange stripes extending the length of the body, one dorsal and one on each 

 side; and below the latter a whitish line interrupted by yellow spots. The orange 

 stripes, when closely examined, are found to be made up of little elongate pieces ar- 

 ranged in a linear series. In the middle portion of the dorsal stripe, these pieces have 

 the form of little urns with their mouths directed forward. The lateral stripes are still 

 more irregular or jagged. These stripes are not wholly orange, but interspersed, espec- 

 ially the lateral ones, with white and lemon-yellow. There is also a yellow spot on the 

 outer side of each of the prolegs. The broad portion between the dorsal and lateral 

 stripes is velvety black, divided longitudinally into two parts by an indistinct whitish 

 line with wide interruptions. The body is rather sparsely clothed with short stiff hairs 

 or bristles, black and white intermixed, radiating from little black warts or tubercles, 

 with steel-blue reflections, of which there are twelve on each segment, arranged as fol- 

 lows : Three between the dorsal and lateral stripes, one between the first and second 

 lateral stripes, one below the last stripe, and one at the base of the prolegs. The under 

 side of the body is soi'did white sprinkled with blackish. 

 A— 7 



