278 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



the European species of the genus in the principal pterogostic 

 characters, obsolete tongue, and rudimentary palpi ; and is, in- 

 deed, the analogue of the well known cescularia. Yet in the 

 antennal characters of the male, and especially in the basal hump 

 on each joint, it agrees more nearly with the typical species of the 

 genus Hybernia as characterized by Guenee. Again, so far as 

 we now know, it differs fi'om Anisopteryx in the additional pair 

 of prolegs in the larva, and in the more distinct areolet in the 

 front-wing. I can find no detailed account of the early states of 

 any of the European species of the genus, though in none of the 

 descriptions of the larva at my command is any mention made of 

 additional prolegs. Mr. Geo. T. Porrit, who particularly de- 

 scribes the larva of A. cescularia,* makes no mention of this 

 structural feature, and Guen6e particularly says : " II ne faut pas 

 chercher des characteres pour les Anisopteryx dans les premiers 

 etats, car les chenilles ne different ni pour la forme, ni pour les 

 couleurs, ni pour les mcEurs, de celles des Hybernia du premiere 

 groupe." Should future observations prove this statement correct, 

 then the characters that belong to pometaria may come to be 

 considered of generic value. For the present I deem it best to 

 refer it to Anisopteryx^ as more careful study will probably show 

 that in the characters of &%%^ larva, and chrysalis, the European 

 species of the genus agree with it, and that some of the structural 

 features of the adolescent states have been overlooked in Europe, 

 as they so long were in this country. 



Paleacrita^ nov. gen., approaches much nearer Hybernia^ 

 from which it is, however, readily distinguished by the double 

 pair of hair fascicles to each c? antennal joint ; the pubescent 

 hairs that cover the female ; the two-jointed, horny, exsertile ovi- 

 positor ; but, more especially, by the dorsal abdominal spines in 

 both sexes — all characters unmentioned in existing diagnoses of 

 the genus. 



One peculiar feature which I noticed in pometaria is that the 

 larva molts but twice. Yellowish-white when first hatched, with 

 the black eyelets showing distinctly on the pale head, it soon 

 deepens to pale olive-green, and the three whitish lines each side 

 show soon after birth. It develops very rapidly, often entering 



* Ent. Month. Mag, (London) ix. 27a. 



