. 3 Z X ' Wete 
70 BULLELIN BROOKLYN ENTOM. SOC. VOL. VL October 1883.]_ 
’ é ¥ 4 y , is ‘ ; 
t ( 3 ; nS TH. 
cocoon July 18th and emerged Aug. 11th. The larvae were feed entirely 
upon the common broad leaved plantain (Plantago major). . 
_ From the caterpillars I had 12 imagines, and these showed some 
very remarkable variations. ‘The fore wings ranged with a bareness of 
marking nearly equal to 4. de-orafz through the / form to the full mark- 
ing of the wing with the outer W. ‘The hind wings varied even more, 
in one specimen they are entirely black and from that they ranged 
through 4. exvclsa to the most fully marked 4. figurata. 
The coloration of the bodies as well varied greatly. The darker 
the kind wings were in the main the darker were the markings of the 
body. But this was only a tendency. In one the body was entirely 
black, and from that through dorsal and lateral markings the; color ex- 
tended to a full red laterally and to red with scarcely perceptible black / 
~ spots dorsally. eneath on abdomen the color was unitormly black. 
’ The thorax varied compuratively little in amount of coloration while the 
color of the legs scarcely varied at all. 
In my own and other collections there exist all possible intergrades 
in the markings of both the fore and hind wings, the latter running” 
| through yellow and red and from the solid band of black through black 
spots of every from and size to wings almost unspotted at all with black. 
Prof. French of Carbondalle Ill. has by breeding established the 
identy of Arc#ia mais Dru., with A. phyihra Dru. and A. Phalerata Harr. 
And he only doubts the identity of A. decorafa Saund., because the larvee 
differed slightly, The larva raised by me from eggs of A. excelsa covered 
the likeness of the larvee of A. mais and devorafa as given by Prof, French. 
Acting on all these facts we are justified in bringing together a great 
number of what have hitherto been called species as being only varieties 
ot variations of one species. So far as the facts justify the synonomy 
stands as follows. | 
* ARCTIA NATS Dru. Snow Grote. ’ decorata Saun. 
 Phalerata Harr. ‘ phylhra Dru. flammea Neum, 
Ma Palaan StLeelks)) Jo)! 0, IP gurata Dru. * excelsa Neum. 
cela Saun. placeniia Abb. & Sm, 
It seems to me that A. Blake’ Grote, superba Stretch, Bolandert 
Stretch and determinafa Neum. must be included under this very variable 
- species. And there may also be others with which I am acquainted only 
by description. To the above I add the following notes. I raised last 
year the larvee of A. virgo. The larvie varied somewhat, the most having 
