LEPIDOPTERA OF NEW YORK AND NEIGHBORING STATES 681 



Caterpillar gray, finely and obscurely striate, with a dorsal pair of warts on 

 metathorax and a narrow black band between thorax and abdomen, concealed 

 at rest; on apple, poplar, and other trees. 



Montreal, Quebec, to Pennsylvania and Michigan. New York: Spier Falls. 

 Rochester, Lancaster, Buffalo, Ithaca, Oneonta, Albany, Bronxville, Staten Island; 

 Southold and Bellport, Long Island. 



2. T. laricis Fitch. Male deep smoky gray; head and collar usually white, con- 

 trasting; fore wings with traces of the markings of velleda, but usually with only 

 the waved whitish subterminal line distinct; veins dark. Female white, with 

 several more or less distinct waved gray bands across basal two-thirds of fore 

 wing; subterminal space broadly ash-gray, terminal space paler gray, separated 

 from it by the wavy w r hite subterminal line. Veins wholly white. Hind wing 

 shading into gray on outer half. <$ 25, $ 30 mm. 



Caterpillar dull brown, similar to velleda,, but with the w r arts on the fifth seg- 

 ment of the abdomen stronger than those on the metathorax; on larch. Occasional 

 transitional specimens occur, suggesting that the species may hybridize. 



Distribution with T. velleda, but more local. New York : Plattsburg, Rochester, 

 Coldwater, Buffalo, Bath, Ithaca, Albany, Poughkeepsie. 



2. ART ACE Walker 



Similar to Tolype, but without the metallic hair on the disc of the thorax. 

 Caterpillar less flattened. 



1. A. punctistriga Walker. White, with the usual lines represented by four or 

 five rows of black dots on veins of fore wing. 2535 mm. (H 12:5.) 



Caterpillar gray, mottled, with an orange transverse band behind thorax, and 

 a distinct raised lappet on dorsum of eighth segment of abdomen, only. 



New York and south; west to Mississippi Valley and Arizona. New York: 

 Brooklyn (Ottolengui). 



3. MALACOSOMA Hiibner 

 (Clisiocampa) 



Body less loosely hairy than in Tolype, without any central thoracic tuft. Fore 

 wing bluntly rounded ( fig. 427 ) , much longer in female than in male, the slight 

 concavity of the outer margin nearly evened up by the fringe; R 4 free, Mj only 

 very shortly stalked. Hind wing with very small humeral cell, bearing 2 humeral 

 veins. Caterpillar cylindrical (americana,) , or slightly flattened (disstria), with- 

 out lappets or distinct enlarged tubercles; social. Cocoon double, the inner cocoon 

 with the interstices filled with yellow powder. 



Key to tJie species 



Two transverse white lines across wing 1. americana. 



Two pale lines toward costa, dark lines, or none 2. disstria. 



1. M. americana Fabricius (Tent caterpillar). Brown (walnut brown of Ridg- 

 way) with two white lines, trisecting the wing, fringe cut with white, most 

 distinctly in the male. Median area sometimes paler, or base with whitish 

 suffusion, c? 25 $ 35 mm. (H 10:12.) 



Very common and general in distribution, often injurious to apple; also on 

 wild cherry and other Rosaceae. When very common, it will eat almost any 

 deciduous tree, but then usually dies before maturity. The caterpillars form a 

 conspicuous tent of silk in the fork of a branch, enclosing no leaves, and feed 



