808 EEPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



the moths emerge and are in the greatest abundance about the middle 

 of June. They come very readily to light, and are a pest to the ento- 

 mologist in his nocturnal rambles. I regret that I cannot now send 

 you descriptions of the larva aud chrysalis. Mr. Stretch has them pre- 

 pared for his forthcoming book on our Bomhycidcc, and 1 am sure he 

 will forward them to you. I will write and ask him to do so. I can 

 send you the perfect insects if they are of value to you." 



Phryganidea (!Alifornica. (Plate LXX, Fig. 22, male.) 



The following account has been furnished by Mr. H, Edwards: 



"This insect is also very destructive to our young oaks, the cater- 

 pillars, which are perfectly naked and with the head almost monstrous 

 in size, making their appearance about the same time as those of Gas- 

 tropacha. They are restless little creatures, wandering incessantly over 

 the trees, and feeding very rapidly. They spin no cocoon, but hang by 

 the tail, like the larva of Vanessa, etc. The change to the chrysalis is 

 undergone in April and May, and the moths appear in about fifteen or 

 sixteen days. There is a second brood of these insects, the imagos of 

 the latter appearing in September and October. Indeed, fresh speci- 

 mens are now upon the wing, though the second brood is by no means 

 so abundant as the first. I have observed that Phryganidea and Gas- 

 tropacha never associate upon the same tree, and I think that the for- 

 mer has always the mastery. This is perhaps owing to some excretion 

 from its body which is unpleasant to the Gastropacha ; but of course I 

 do not speak with certainty as to this fact. It is, however, sure that 

 they are never found in large quantities on the same tree. I am in- 

 clined to think that Phryganidea is more destructive to the oaks than 

 the other species, as it feeds solely upon Quercus, while the other, as I 

 have said, is not so particular in the choice of its food. I inclose my 

 published description of the egg of Phryganidea. I quote Mr. Edwards's 

 description of the egg and larva : 



" The egg is spherical, a little flattened above, shining, yellowish- white 

 at exclusion, attached in clusters of about ten or twelve to the upper 

 side of the leaves. The third day the apex of the egg assumes a dull 

 orange hue, afterward changing to a bright reddish-purple and grad- 

 ually to a duller shade as the young larvae emerge. The eggs were 

 laid by a female in my possession on July 5. In the young larva the 

 head is very large, almost monstrous, pale olive-brown, with a narrow 

 black line at base ; body pale canary -yellow, with four rows of black 

 spots arranged longitudinally in lines. 



" The mature form of the larva is noticed in Stretch's ^Zygaenidce and 

 Bomhycidcv of North America,' but I subjoin the description of one of the 

 many varieties to which it is subject, believing that all information with 

 reference to this species (the position of which in classification has not 

 yet been settled by entomologists) will prove to be of value : Yellow- 

 ish-white, shining, head large, round, stone color, with a black point on 

 each side of the mouth ; a median stripe of reddish-brown aud a narrow 

 one of the same color on each side. A broad black stripe extends lat- 

 erally across the second segment at base of the head and another across 

 the thirteenth segment, which also contains a broken black dorsal line. 

 In the middle of the black lateral stripe is a waved whitish line, inclosing 

 a narrow black one. At the base of the abdominal legs is a waved 

 interrupted yellow line, edged narrowly with black ; under side yellow- 

 ish-white, faintly marked with broken brown waved lines ; feet pinkish, 

 striped with black ; abdominal legs yellowish-white." 



