ENTOMOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 135 



IV. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE LARV.E OF SOME NOCTDIDJB. 



Acronycta Americana Harris MS. 



September 1st, found at Center, Albany county, N". Y., resting on 

 the upper side of an oak leaf, a caterpillar of this species, differing 

 in some particulars from the description given in the Entomological 

 Correspondence of T. W. Harris, p. 313. 



Head of larva dark brown, almost black. Body black, of a silky 

 luster. On the dorsum, a series of thirteen subelliptical raised spots, 

 their transverse length nearly equaling the diameter of the body, of 

 a pale yellow color, orange at the ends, with a black depressed line 

 dividing them on segments four to nine and eleven ; these spots, 

 with the exception of those on segments two, three, ten and twelve, 

 have black spatulate bristles springing from a mamilliform base in 

 the lateral orange portion of the spot ; those of the first segment pro- 

 ject over the head and are six in number (three on each side), of 

 which the two anterior ones are .13 in. long, and the four posterior .28 

 in. long ; on the abdominal segments they are two in number, .13 

 in. long; those on the eleventh segment measure .16 of an inch, 

 and are directed posteriorly nearly in line with the body ; those on 

 the terminal segment are but .06 in. long, and consist merely of 

 a slender stipe, seeming as if the spatulate tip had been broken off. 

 These dorsal spots have also two short bristles anterior to the spatu- 

 late ones, arid two additional ones on the spots not furnished with 

 the spatulate bristles. Above the legs and prolegs a row of convex 

 shining black crescents, giving out a few hairs ; beneath, behind and 

 above each stigma is an elevated glossy black spot, each with one or 

 more short black hairs. 



Length of the larva when at rest, from 1.15 in. to 1.25 in. 



The larva above described did not produce its moth, nor am I able 

 to obtain any information of it from any of my correspondents with 

 whom I have communicated in relation to it. Mr. F. G. Sanborn, 

 from whom was obtained the example figured by Packard,* informs 

 me that the larva has been familiar to him for some years, but that 



* Guide to the Study of Insects, p. 305, f. 236. 



