154 TWENTY- SIXTH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. 



Dr. Speyer, after an enumeration of scores of our American Lepidop- 

 tera, of which he needs no more examples either for his cabinet or 

 for study, he reminds Mr. Meske that his cabinet is still deficient in 

 a perfect female Luna. 



Hemileuca Maia (Drury). 



A crippled imago emerged July 8th, 1872, being the first from a 

 small number of larvae carried to pupation the previous year. The 

 usual white band on the upper surface of the primaries was inter- 

 rupted in the middle; beneath it was continuous and broader than 

 above. Upon opening its abdomen, one hundred and fifty-two eggs 

 were obtained therefrom, of a uniform reddish-brown color. 



On the 17th of July a second one (a male) emerged. September 

 7th, a third was observed just as it escaped from its puparium. It not 

 being convenient to entrust it to the care of any one, and desirous of 

 securing it in a perfect condition, I removed it, with the utmost care, 

 to a small box, which I carried in my hand to the railroad train for 

 which I was on the point of leaving. While in the cars, the box was 

 held in position to subject it to as little motion as possible. When 

 examined in the evening, after a three hours' ride, the moth was 

 found with its wings dried but entirely unexpanded, and with its 

 abdomen retaining the elongate form and sutural extension with 

 which it emerged from the puparium. The motion of the cars had 

 caused an entire arrest of its last stage of development. 



I am informed by Dr. Hagen that this species was quite common, 

 in 1872, at Detroit, Mich., and in Maine, where the caterpillar was 

 observed feeding on Spiraea salicifolia, as noticed by Prof. S. Smith, 

 at Norway, Me., in 1865. In Massachusetts it was not rare in its 

 occurrence. 



Gastropacha Americana Harris. 



Larva feeding on birch (Betula lento), August 18th, nearly mature, 

 measuring two inches in length. 



Body slate-gray, mottled with black, beneath flattened and green- 

 ish ; on the sides, beneath the stigmata, a series of tufts of reddish 

 hairs, three-sixteenths of an inch long ; on the incisure of the second 

 and third segments, a scarlet band superiorly, divided by a black line 

 and black at the ends, only observed when the larva is extended or 

 in motion ; on the first segment, two small tubercles on each side, 

 and one on each side of the following segments ; from the tubercles 



