MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 165 



Notodonta stragula Grote. 



(PL IV, tig. 4.) 



XotinJonla siragula Orote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., iii, p. 93, PI. XI, fig. 2, ^ , 1864. 

 Piicli., Proc. Eut. Soc. Pliil., iii, p. 357, 1864. 

 (iriite, Check List N. Amer. Moths, p. 18, 1882. 

 Smith, List Lep. Bor. Amer., p. 30, 1891. 

 Kiiby, 8yn. Cat. Lep. Het., i, p. 601, 1892. 

 yotoditnUt jxu'ifica Behr, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., iii, p. 206, April, 1892. 



striigula Xeum. and Dyar, Traus. Amer. Eut. Soc, xxi, p. 185j Juue, 1894; Jouru. N. Y. Ent. Soc, 

 ii, p. 113, Sept., 1894. 



Larva. 



iPl. XIX, tigs. 1-3.) 



Tepper, Bull. Ent. Soc, Brooklyn, i, p. 10, 1878. 



Edicaidn ant! Elliot, I'apilio, iii, p. 129, 1883. 



Packard, 5th Rep. U.S. Kut. Comni. on Forest Insects, pp.456, 463, 1890. 



Moth. — ^Auteiior wings slaty gray, shaded witli pale buff along internal margin, with a. 

 chesiiiutbrowii basal ])atch and some brown streaks :uid spots in the terminal space; internal 

 margin crested. Extreme base of the wing brownish; basal line distinct; snbbasal space large, 

 grayish at casta, rich chestunt-brown below the cubital vein, pale buff along the internal margin, 

 which latter shade extends from base to internal tingle. A very dark brown streak extends from 

 the basal line to the transverse anterior line below the median vein, and a similar streak at internal 

 margin. Transverse anterior line daik brown, grayish at costa, undulate, bordered anteriorly by 

 a pale buff shtule from below subcostal vein to internal margin. Median space widest at costa, 

 • narrow at internal margin, grayish, with an elongate pale discal spot with dark brown center. 

 Transverse posterior line cinereous, indistinct, subdeutate, continued. Terminal space with a 

 series of rich chestnut-brown streaks between the veins; two more, linear, near the a])ex. Posterior 

 wings pale cinereous with two indistinct median bands; anal angle touched with brownish. 

 TLiorax and collar brownish; teguhe grtiyish; abdomen cinereous, slightly brownish above. Under 

 surface of thorax and inside of legs brownish; outside of legs and sides of thorax clothed with 

 cinereous hairs. Expanse of wings, 1.(10 inches. (Grote.) 



Dr. Dyar writes me that he has seen Behr's X. liacifica. "It is just like X. struf/nla, but 

 darker, the thorax most black.'' I have also seen a poor specimen in Mr. Dyar's collection. It may 

 be compared with rheosia portlaiidia, which I regard as a melanotic form of P. (litiiidiafa. I 

 copy Behr's description. 



Anterior wings; basal third brown, Ijonlered by a, darker line, preceded by a dilution; from these the anterior 

 half ashy gray, the posterior half lirown; the second line convergent and almost touching the first line that borders 

 the basal third of the wing, preceded by a discal linear mark, which is followed by a diluted shade, ending with a 

 well-darkened apical mark, divided by two nerves into three spots. Near the external margin a diluted fulvous 

 shade. Hind wings grayish. 



Found in Placer County, Cal. 



The species is similar to X. :ic:ac, but the thorax is darker than the anterior wings. 



Type in collection of the California Academy of Sciences. 



Lan-fi. — Dr. Dyar has sent nie the following description of the early larval stages from his 

 notes: 



" Stage I. — On hatcliing the larvti runs to the apex of the leaf and sits with the anterior half of 

 its body projecting. It eats the upper surface of the leaf. Hetid round, pale brown; width, 5 

 mm. Body shiidng, sordid greenish, a subdorstil whitish line which becomes broken into oblique 

 segmentary lines ou the abdomen, a whitish lateral line. Segments (> and 12 slightly enlarged 

 dorsally. Thoracic feet iind leg plates black. Cervical shield pale brown, tiansverse. Tubercles 

 distinct, black, normal i-v, vi absent, a long one on the leg plate. (It is strncttu-ally not different 

 from Nerice in Stage I, and has the same habits. 



■• StfKjc II. — Head high, narrowed toward the vertex, flattened before: smoky blackish mottled 

 with pale in front in two illdeflned vertical bands. Body dark purplish with a blackish dorsal 

 band and a pale .shade on the side of the hump on abdominal segment 8 and slight pale lateral 

 obli(iue lines. Prominence ou abdominal segment 2 very slight. Thoracic feet black. Sette short 

 and obscure. 



