278 MEMOIRS OF TUE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Tails he:ivily s)iino8e. l)laik ; length, 7 mm. The piliferous tulieicles <ii' tlic body are very small, tliose on the lateral 

 rej^icm white, besides many small lateral white spots. A narrow, yellowish, stigniatal line. Two erect, spiny, black 

 hair-s beyond the anus. 



As the stage advances, the spines on joint 2 become ))aitly whiti, the dorsal band ])arlly striated and 

 indistinctly bordered anteriorly witli white; the stigniatal line just below the sj)inu-les is white, and there is a 

 general appmaeh to the next stage. 



I'i/lli elitiic. — Head rounded, rather liat in tiont, shagreened. Color black, green at the sides posteriorly, a large 

 band in front as wide as the space between the eyes at base, but narrowing to the vertex, sordid white, mottled a 

 little with the ground color. Labrum wliitish; maxilhe black; antenna- white. Width of head. 3.7 mm. Cervical 

 shield large, angnlated at the corners, without any horns or spines. Beneath it the head can be partly retracted. 

 IJody anguhirly elevated at joint 4, with a dorsal, lleshy jirocess. Tail mm. long, whitish above and green below 

 at the base, the rest purple with black spines. Extensile threads yellowich at base, then red, fading to yellowish 

 again toward the ends. Body green, a broad white dorsal band edged with white, confusedly striated on a purple 

 ground which soon becomes green, a little purple on joints 2-4, decidedly so on the- anterior corners of the cervical 

 shield (where it shades into pinkisb in the tVdd of skin behind the head), on the hnnip on joint 4, and on joint 8 

 .subdorsally in the angle of the band. It begins broadly on joint 2, covering the cervical shield, narrows to the 

 process on joint 4, widens to just above the spiracles on joint 8, and gradually narrows to joint IH, where the anal 

 plate is greenish. A distinct white substigmatal line, edged below with brown and narrowly above with black, 

 absent on joint 2 and turned up at its anterior end. Many small lateral white flecks. Spiracles black, whili' 

 centrally. Thoracic feet twice lined with black longitudinally; aljdominal, (Mice transversely, the claspers tipped 

 with black. Length, 25 mm , exclusive of the tails. The erect spines beyond the anus whitish. When the larva 

 has finished eating, all the white of the dorsal band except its borders fades out, leaving the back green and the 

 cervical shield pale blue. 



Cocoon. — Formed on wood, of gummy silk, strengthened by many little pieces of b.ark and wood bitten ofi' from 

 the inside, thus forming a hollow. It is elliptical, just large enough to contain the larva, and becomes very hard, 

 closely resembling a lump or excrescence on the bark. 



Pupa. — Cylindrical, tajiering a little toward both ends, the last two abdominal segments rounded and 

 appressed, the others capable of motion; no creniastcr. Eyes prominent; a narrow cariuated ridge runs along the 

 head from between the eyes to the back of the place of origin of the antenna'. Cases creased and very minutely 

 punctured, not shiny; eyes and body sublustrous, the latter minutely granulated at the anterior half of each 

 abdominal segment; spiracles distinct. Color dark reddish browu, with .a blackish shade over the dorsum. 

 Length, 18 mm.; greatest width, G.5 mm. Pupation occurs in about two weeks after the completion of the cocoou, 

 and the insects remain in this stage throughout the winter. 



EfKI. — The. eggs are said by Professor Ri]ey to be hemispherical and pale yellowish green, 

 ■while those of C. borealis differ in being jet-black. On the other luiiid Dr. Dyar tells lue that the 

 eggs of all our Centra are black, except those of multiscriirta which are covered by tlie hairs from 

 . the body of the moth. 



Hahltx. — Mr. F. Tepper found the larva of this fine moth on the willow July 30; a male imago 

 emerged August .'50 and a female September 30 (IJiill. Brooklyn Eut. Soc, i, 4). No descrii)tioii of 

 the larva was published. The life history has been fully described by Mr. Dyar in Psyche (v, p. 

 .3!K3), which we have copied. It remains to be seeu whether the larva of the white form, 

 scitiscriptu, dilifers from what we should call the melanotic form, inultiscripta. 



Food plants. — Ditlcrent species of willow and poplar, also wild cherry. The figures ou pi. — 

 were drawn from a specimen found on the wild cherry September 10, at Providence, E. I. Mrs. 

 Slosson has raised it from the i)on)egranate in Florida. 



ikoyraphiml ilixtrlbution. — Its range extends throughout the Appalachian and Austroriparian 

 subprovinces, passing into the eastern limits of the Campestrian (Kansas). It is to be observed 

 that the ])ale whiter form, scitiscrijjfa, inhabits the Austroriparian siibprovincc (Florida, Georgia to 

 Kansas), while the darker form, with heavier black lines and sjiots, has thus far only occurred in 

 the Northern States. It has not yet been rejwrted from any of the New England States; eastern 

 New York (Dyar, Doll, Elliot); Illinois and eastern Missouri (Kiley, United States National 

 Museum); Kansas (Lintner ex Strecker); Maidiattan, Ivans., August 10 (Popenoe); Jacksonville, 

 Fla. (Mrs. Slo.s.son); "Georgia" (Dyar); New York, Missouri, Tqxhs (miilti.scripto, Kilcy's notes, 

 United States National Museum); multiscrijHn, New York, Carbondale, 111.; var. ncitiHcripta, 

 Illinois, Georgia; canilida, New York, Kansas (French); muUiscripla, New York, New Jersey 

 (Palm). 



Riley mentions a "new species'" of Cerura from Owens \';illey. (Merrian's North Amer. 

 Fauna, No. 7; The Death Valley Exp., Pt. II, May 31, 1893, p. 245.) 



