﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. IT 



PALEACRITA VERXATA. ANISOPTERYX TOMETARIA. 



Two rows of spines on back of the first No spines on abdomen, 



seven joints more prominent than in the 

 male, and often giving the dorsum a red- 

 dish aspect. (Fit>:. 9, d.) 



Of a rather smaller ^ize tlian f)o?Mei!aria, The wintjs of the male expand from 



the wino^s of the male expiinding from 1.05-1.35 inches ; and the female meas- 

 0.86-1.30 inches, and the female measur- iires 0.25-0.40 inch, 

 ing 0.20-0.35 inch in length. 



From the above detailed descriptions of the two species it is evident that, as already- 

 remarked, pometaria alone can be referred to tlie genus Anisopieryx, and this doubt- 

 fully. It agrees with the European species of tlie genus in the principal pterogostic 

 characters, obsolete tongue, and rudimentary palpi ; and is, indeed, the analogue of the 

 well known cesculai-ia. Yet in the antennal characters of the male, and especially in 

 the basal hump on each joint, it agrees more nearly with the typical .epecies of the 

 genus Hybernia as characterized by Giienee. Again, so far as we now know, it differs 

 from Anisopteryx in the additional pair of prolegs in the larva, and in the more distinct 

 areolet in the front- wing. I can find no detailed account of the early states of any of 

 the European species of the genus, though in none of the descriptions of the larva at 

 my command is any mention m-ade of additional prolegs. Mr. Geo. T. Porrit, who 

 particularly describes the larva of A. ceseularia* makes no mention of this structural 

 feature, and Guenee particularly says : "11 nefaut pas chercher des charact^res pour 

 les Anisopteryx dans les premiers otats, car les chenilles ne diflerent ni pour la forme, 

 ni pour les couleuz's, ni pour les moeurs, de celles des Hybernia du premiere groupe." 

 Should luture observations prove this statement correct, then the characters that 

 belong to pometaria may come to be considered of generic value. For the present 1 

 deem it best to refer it to Anisopteryx, as more careful study will probably show that in 

 the characters of ^g^, larva, and chrysalis, the European species of the genus agree 

 with it, and that some of the structural features of the adolescent states have been 

 overlo*oked in Europe, as they so long were in this country. 



Paleacrita, nov. gen., approaches much nearer Hybernia, from which it is, how- 

 ever, readily distinguished by the double pair of hair fascicles to each ^5" antennal joint ; 

 the pubescent hairs that cover the female ; the two-jointed, horny, exsertile ovipositor ; 

 but, more especially, by the dorsal abdominal spines in both sexes — all characters un- 

 mentioned in existing diagnoses of the genus. 



One peculiar feature which I noticed in pometaria is that the larva molts but twice. 

 Yellowish-white when first hatched, with the black eyelets showing distinctly on the 

 pale head, it soon deepens to pile olive-green, and the three whitish lines each side 

 show soon after birth. It develops very rapidly, often entering the ground within three 

 weeks from hatching. The chrysalis is not formed till about a month afterwards, where- 

 as vernata takes on this form two or three days after entering the ground. 



The.practical lessons to be drawn from the differences here pointed out between 

 these two Canker-worms have been set forth in the report already cited. Paleacrita 

 vernata rises from the ground mostly in early Spring, for which reason I have popularly 

 designated it as tlie Spring Canker-worm. The principal efforts to prevent the female 

 from ascending the tree should, therefore, be made at that season. The cocoon being 

 fragile is easily broken by any disturbance of the land, and, as the chrysalis is more 



* Ent. Month. May. (London; ix. 272. 

 E K— 21. 



