13 



Famphila, and bears a somewhat close resemblance to P. Manitoba, for which reason we 

 call it " Atanitoboides." It occurs, however, six weeks sooner at Nepigon than an insect 

 I take to be true Manitoba, As I do not wish to cause confusion by naming what may 

 prove to be a described species, I refrain from further describing the perfect insect, but give 

 below some notes on the egg and the larvae after the third moult, and on the appearance 

 of the young larva in the first two stages. Five eggs were obtained upon the grass, 

 Danthonia spicata. These were laid upon the gi-een leaves and were large and showy, of 

 a dull, dead white, and of the same shape as those of P. Hobamok. Under the microscope 

 the shell presents a surprising appearance, for it is covered all over with threads and 

 much resembles a piece of ordinary printing paper under a magnifying glass. The shell 

 of the empty egg is very thick, and it is with difficulty that the pentagonal and hexagonal 

 cells on the surface can be made out. Eggs laid 10th July hatched upon 25th. There 

 was no mottling with pink as in P. Cemeg, and the only indication that the eggs were 

 good was the gradually darkening head of the young hitva which showed through the 

 thick shell. The newly-hatched caterpillar is of a much yellower shade of cream colour 

 than either P. Cernea, Mystic or Hobomok. The head, thoracic sliield and first thoracic 

 foot, black. The whole body covered with knobbed hairs. Unluckily at the time the 

 young caterpillars hatched I was moving into a new house, and my furniture and instru- 

 ments all being packed up, my microscope was in access! I do, and the only observations I 

 could make then were made with a Codriugton lens. Th(i shape of the young larvae was 

 sack-shnped, somewhat like the grubs of the Scarabaeida; ; but not having the anal seg- 

 ments curved under the body. From the very beginning, when the young larva; were 

 placed upon a tuft of growing grass, they worked their way down to the bases of the leaves 

 and kept out of sight. About four days after they hatched I lost sight of them, and it 

 was not untiil 4th August that I found them again. They had evidently moulted, for 

 instead of a yellowish white they had now assumed a delicate glaucous tint. By glaucous 

 I mean an opaque white, with a faint bluish-green shade on the surface. The head, 

 and spiracles, as well as the thoracic shield and first pair of thoracic feet were 

 black as i^ first, making a continuous collar from the tip of one foot to the 

 other. Down the centre of the back there w^as a green line, from the dorsal 

 vessel showing through the skin. At this time they were transferred to a smaller 

 tuft of grass consisting of small roots of Agrastis vulgaris and Carex varia. They 

 seemed to eat either of these indiscriminately, and eating their way down into 

 the heart of a shoot, would nibble the edges of the leaves all round them. Leaving 

 home to attend the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, no note was taken of the date of the next moult. Indeed, I supposed that this, 

 like Koiiie others, had died during my abdence. One morning in the month of September, 

 however, to my great pleasure, I found one of these larvse snugly ensconsed, head upwards, 

 in a d( 11 it had eaten out of the centre of one of the shoots of sedge. When it emerged 

 to feed I found it had quite changed its colour. In the beginning of October it came out 

 of this den, and for some reason it did not return to it again, but climbed about on the 

 grass and seilge, and before it had constructed another winter quarters the cold weather 

 set in. In November it had spun topether a few leaves of grass, but this seems to have 

 been insufficient. Some warm weather in December caused a mould to spread all over the 

 plant, and having decided that the caterpillar was dead, I placed it in alcohol. The fol- 

 lowing is a description of this larva after what I consider was its third moult : — 



Ijength, 7 lines. General colour, greenish- brown, with head, thoracic shield and 

 thoracic feet black. Head round, larger than either of the first three segments, very coarsely 

 punctured and thickly invested with short pointed bristles. About the mouth-parts a few 

 lonjj bristles. Thoracic shield black on a pale collar, and having two longitudinal furrows 

 and bearing some truncate bristles just above the large spiracle on segment 2. The shield 

 is divided by a transverse line which cuts off a small triangular piece of which the apex 

 points downwards just over the spiracle. This triangle bears one long setaceous bristle 

 similar to those on Chinnnbns Jiitta and Macounii and also one concave disk of the same 

 nature as those on C. Mandan. The whole surface of the body is minutely shagieened 

 and has the raised portions darkened. Bf'sides this the whole of the body but the head 

 is covered with small black tubercles, each of which bears a short white trumpet-shaped 



