312 



NEW YORK STATE ML'SEUM 



ably feeds on most, if not all, of our oaks and that the larvae were readily 

 changed from one species of oak to another. 



Description. The moth is a beautiful blackish insect [pi. 17, fig. g| 

 with wings so thinly scaled in places that they appear semitransparent. 

 They are ornamented with creamy white bands which are broadest on the 

 hind wings. The male ma\ be recognized by its broader black antennae 

 and the smaller abdomen tipped with a large tuft of red hairs. The egg 

 belts [pi. 17, fig. 10], range in length from '^ ^^ a little over yi inch, 

 as stated by Dr Lintner, and contain from 70 to 200 eggs. The egg is 

 about ■ 20 inch long, obovate, compressed on the sides, and at the apex red- 

 dish brown above and yellowish white below, as described by Dr Riley. 

 The following description of the various stages is abbreviated from Dr 

 Lintner's account. 



The recently hatched larva is at first reddish and then changes to 

 nearly black and is about 'g inch long. It is adorned with five to eight 

 rows of glossy black spines, each bearing four diverging spinules and a 

 curved, ciliated bristle nearly double the length of the spine. 



The young larva after its first molt is about 3/io inch in length, has a 

 shiny black head and a few black hairs. The body is black, and when 

 highly magnified is minutely granulated. The spines are glossy black, 

 with three or more branches, in the truncated tip of which is inserted a 

 bristle about I3 the length of the spine. The spines of the two anterior 

 segments are longer than the others. On segments 3 to 7 inclusive in the 

 two superior rows, the main spine (which is trifid on segment 3, bifid on 

 segment 4, and simple on segments 5 to 7) is acutely terminated, while its 

 branches have the termination and armature of those elsewhere. 



The larva in the second molt has a rufous head, and a fuscous body 

 with obscure red stigmatal spots sprinkled with rufous granulations, of 

 which there is a larger one laterally on each segment below the subdorsal 

 row of spines. The spines and their branches are fulvous, those of the two 

 superior rows tipped with a bristle, often black and numerously branched ; 

 the lateral spines less branching are tipped with longer fulvous bristles. 



