322 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



A writer in the " Practical Entomologist" (vol. i, p. 57) states 

 that the caterpillars are hatched as soon as the leaves unfold, 

 and live unobserved for a week or so in the young shoots in 

 the tree-tops, and when half grown are seen crawling about the 

 tree. Towards the end of June they pupate, and in about a 

 week after the moth appears. The importation of the English 

 sparrow is said to have very effectually checked the ravages of 

 this caterpillar, which may be recognized by its resemblance to 

 the twigs of the tree on which it feeds, while its rather large 

 head and the terminal ring of the body are bright red. 



In Amphidasys the body is very stout and the triangular 

 wings are inclined to be small (in Nyssia, an European genus, 

 the female has minute rudimentary wings) and narrow, while 

 the antennae are broadly pectinated. The larva is stout, twig- 

 like, being dark brown and 

 warted ; it is swollen at each 

 end, and the head is often bifid. 

 The pupa is subterranean. Such 

 are the habits of A. cognataria 

 Guen. which is white and very 

 thickly sprinkled with ashy 

 black. We have found the 

 larva feeding on the "Missouri 

 currant," the gooseberry, and 



the red Spiraea. It went into the pupa state on the 22d of 

 September. 



Boarmia has pectinated antennas, the tip being generally 

 simple, while the abdomen is rather slender and the wings are 

 dusky gray and crossed by dentate lines. The larva is twig- 

 like, elongate, with small humps and lateral projections, and 

 lives on trees. The pupa is subterranean. B. gnopharia Gueu. 

 is ashen, the wings clouded with fuscous, and dusted with black 

 scales, with four black dentate lines. A species of Boarmia, 

 figured by Mr. Glover, "eats the flowers of the cotton, being 

 found early in October." The larva is of the same thickness 

 throughout, with a rather large head angulated above, and two 

 tubercles near the tip. It is brown, with a double lateral 

 pale stripe. The chrysalis is brown and enclosed in an under- 

 ground cocoon. The moth expands nearly an inch and a half, 



