BOMBYCIDS. 131 
expands nearly two inches and makes its appearance in June and 
July. The caterpillar is dark gray, sometimes almost black, and is 
thinly elothed with clusters of spreading black hairs which spring 
from dark colored warts. The larve live on the plantain. 
Another common species is Arctia phalerata. The thorax and 
upper wings are yellowish-buff with broad black stripes and triangu- 
lar spots, and the abdomen and lower wings are reddish-pink with 
black spots and markings. 
Arctia virgo. 
Our largest and most beautiful species of this genus is Arctia 
virgo. ‘The upper wings are flesh color marked with broad stripes of 
black, and the lower wings are vermilion red and deep reddish-pink 
at the base with large black spots. The thorax is the color of the 
upper wings, with three black splashes, and the abdomen is the color 
of the lower wings with a black band on each side and on the back. 
I have never found this insect abundant but have taken it in August 
with a lighted lamp in Massachusetts and in northern Ohio. The 
insect expands two and one-half inches. The caterpillar is brown, 
covered with brown hairs, is two and a half inches long when fully 
grown, and feeds on pigweed, dock and plantain. 
The common snow-white miller, Arctia virginica, has a wide distri- 
bution. The wings are pure white with one or two small dots of 
black, while the abdomen has the customary black spots of the genus 
on the sides and back with a yellow stripe on each side. The cater- 
pillar of this moth is the * yellow bear,” which is a common pest in 
our vegetable gardens, devouring almost everything in the way of 
herbaceous plants it finds. Its body is covered with long yellow or 
