132 



TWENTY-SIXTH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. 



red, somewhat in the form of a script a?, and less distinct reticulations 

 of the same. Body presenting a peculiarly mottled appearance from 

 its irregular and broken stripes ; its general color dull red ; on each 

 segment an irregular band of brighter red ; a whitish vascular line 

 within a broken gray stripe ; a better defined lateral stripe just above 

 the stigmata, within which, on each segment from the third to the 

 eighth inclusive, are four black depressed spots arranged in a right 

 angle, the upper three in line, the largest of which rests on the crown 

 of the segment, with two behind it and one before ; the substigmatal 

 fold is white on the anterior portion of each segment and red on the 

 remainder; rows of tubercles from which clusters of red hairs of 

 unequal length proceed, which, on the anterior segments, incline to 

 yellow; on the first, second, fourth and eleventh segments each, 

 superiorly, are two pencils of red hairs nearly one-fourth of an inch 

 in length, darker at the tips and slightly feathered. (These pencils 

 made their appearance after the last molting.) Stigmata encircled 

 with brown. Legs red. 



In the accompanying illustration (Fig. 7) is represented the habit 

 FIG. 7. and attitude of the larva in feeding. With its 



terminal pair of legs clasping the leaves at the 

 sheath, it extends its body along a leaf until it 

 commences to bend, when, by detaching* succes 

 sively the first and following pairs of prolegs, 

 it forces the leaf through its legs until its tip is 

 held between them, in the attitude shown in the 

 figure. When the leaf has been eaten from its 

 tip downward, as far as the contracted segments 

 of the larva will permit, it moves to another leaf, 

 and feeds upon it after the same manner. 



I have observed the same method of feeding 

 in the nearly full-grown larvae of Ellema, Harrisii 

 Clemens. 



Two of the larvae above described underwent their last molting 

 September 17th (1859), and a larva farther advanced spun its cocoon 

 beneath leaves lying in the bottom of its feeding cage. A second 

 one spun up on September 25th. 



An imago emerged June 12th. 



The above larvae were collected at Schoharie. Examples have 

 also been found on pine at Bethlehem, near Albany. It has not 

 been hitherto described. 



