﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 117 



In thisconoeclion I will also record the occurrence of a variety of 

 sp7'et us,in which all the pale ornorraally yellowish-gray parts are bright 

 green. These green individuals are conspicuous among their brown 

 brethren. I found them to constitute about one in a thousand of the 

 schools around Warrensburg, and singularly enough nowhere else. 

 The green endures from the larva to the perfect state, and 1 would 

 •designate this variety as viridis. It is but a marked colorational 

 variety, in a species which has not heretofore been known to present 

 these colorational differences, and no one having a true conception of 

 the differences between spretus 2i\\& Atlanis would think of placing 

 the latter on the same grade. 



Comparisons of the immature stages of these three species show 

 that, when large material is examined, fbinur-riLbriiin and Atlanis are 

 more nearly allied than this last and spretus^ though, as in the mature 

 insects, they approach each other through exceptional individuals. 



In the first stage, spref us has a decidedly ferocious look, the head being out of all 

 proportion to the rest of the body. The colors are brown, gray and dull white, the 

 general tinfbeing light gray, and the insect presenting a mottled and speckled appear- 

 ance. The antennffi have several joints less than when mature, and are more thick and 

 clavate. The frontal ridge is more prominent and deeply sulcate. The cerci extend 

 beyond the rounded tip of the abdomen. The tarsi show the three joints, but the 

 middle one less distinctly than afterwards. The medio-dorsum from vertex to near 

 the tip of the abdomen, is carinate and pale. Of the dark dots and marks the most 

 conspicuous and persistent (for some specimens are much darker than others) are, one 

 behind the eyes, a sub-quadrate one on the side of the meta-thorax, a crescent streak 

 •on the sides of the swollen end of hind femora, and two spots on the bulbous base of 

 hind tebire. In the second stage the face with very rare exceptions is pitchy black, the 

 top of the head shows the three characteristic rows of transverse black marks on a rust- 

 brown ground, the outer rows curving around the eyes, and the middle one broadest 

 and divided by a narrow medial, pale line ; the rust-brown color continues, with more 

 irregular black marks on the prothorax, narrowing toward its middle; on each side 

 of it the anterior part of the prothorax is black, relieved below by a conspicuous, arched 

 pale line, and this again with a more or less distinct dark lateral mark beneath. The 

 cheeks are mottled with rust-brown and edged behind with yellow; the head 

 beneath, and palpi, except a black rim around tips are pale yellowish. The other 

 ■colors are much as in the mature insects. With each succeeding stage the broad and 

 pale streaks of prothorax intensify, and as soon as the hind wing-pads are turned up 

 over the front pair, viz : in the third stage, the pale spot at the base which becomes so 

 ■conspicuous in the pupa, is visible. The black face after the first molt is quite charac- 

 teristic, and often endures to the pupa state. 



Atlanis, in the first stage, is distinguished by its deeper, more livid, or rosy, less 

 speckled appearance, and more strongly contrasting brighter yellow venter. In the sub- 

 sequent stages these colorational differences still prevail and the face is not black as in 

 spretus; the pale spot on the hind wing-pads is less conspicuous in the third, and the 

 pupa is not only distinguished by its smaller size and different color, but by the nar- 

 rower, more obsolete black marks of the prothorax and by the wing-pads being con- 



