PACKARD.) THE CALIFORNIAN LAPPER MOTH. 807 



third as wide as the segment behind it; it is thick, and about as long as 

 broad. The antennae are short, conical, three-jointed ; the maxillary palpi 

 are short, projecting but slightly beyond the ends of the labial palpi ; 

 they are three-jointed ; the first but slightly shorter than the second ; third 

 but half as wide and half as long as second. Labial palpi minute, con- 

 sisting of but a single joint, while the labium itself is large and fleshy. 

 Three pairs of well-developed legs, which are two-jointed, ending in a 

 single stout claw. The end of the body is suddenly somewhat flattened 

 and bent over onto the ventral side, and is armed above with two paral- 

 lel, flat, blade-like chitinous appendages, a little curved and appressed 

 to, though free from, the surface on which they rest, reaching to the tip of 

 the body, and curved slightly backward. The segments of the body 

 are quite convex, the sutures deeply impressed, and the exposed parts of 

 the body are covered with fine hairs. The prothoracic segment is 

 slightly reddish, pale brown posteriorly. Length of the body when 

 curved, 0.5G inch ; thickness, 0.20 inch. 



Dermestes marmoratus Say. (Plate LXX, Fig. 15.) 



This is the common larder-beetle of Colorado and other Western Ter- 

 ritories, and is noticed here as likely to be annoying in museums, and 

 as a nuisance in pantries and kitchens. 



"Antennae reddish-brown ; thorax indented before the scutel ; pectus 

 blackish; postpectus and coxiie with dense white hair: feet blackish; 

 intermediate and posterior thighs with a white baud before ; spot on 

 the lateral basal margin of the elytra large, angular; venter with 

 dense white hair; anal segment and lateral spots black-brown. Length 

 from three-tenths to nine-twentieths of an inch. This insect is of fre- 

 quent occurrence is Missouri and Arkansas, and is a large species." — 

 (Say.) 



The Californian Lapper Moth, Gastropacha californica Pack. 



This and the following moth are somewhat annoying insects in Cali- 

 fornia, feeding upon the oak, and at my request Mr. Henry Edwards 

 has furnished me with the following account of them : 



"The moth lays its eggs in June, and they must remain unhatched 

 until the following spring. Just when the young shoots of the oaks 

 {Quercus agrifolia Nee) begin to appear, the larvae make their appear- 

 ance also, spinning thin and irregular webs over the branches of the 

 trees. In these webs they house mostly during the heat of the day, 

 but sally forth in the evening and at night for food. In this way they 

 will soon strip a tree of its leaves, though it is well to say that the oaks 

 do not seem to be permanently afiected, as they soon send forth fresh 

 shoots, and toward the time that the caterpillars undergo their change 

 to the chrysalis they are green and gay again. The larvte retain the 

 shelter of their web until after the third month, when they wander 

 away singly, are found everywhere, becoming sometimes a complete 

 nuisance in gardens and fields. They feed in their more mature stages 

 upon many plants besides the oak, eating with avidity willows, ash, 

 ^scuhis californica, Photinia arhutifolia, Arhutiis menzicsii, as well as 

 apple and pear trees. Toward the end of May they spin their cocoons, 

 seeming to have no choice of locality, but fixing themseU'es wherever 

 they may chance to be, either on walls, palings, trunks or branches of 

 trees, stems of grapes-, or among the leaves of herbaceous phints. The 

 time in the chrysalis state is about eighteen to twenty-one days, so that 



