343 



who is himself engaged upon a monograph of this group, prepared the 

 following description of this interesting addition to our insect fauna : — 



Samia Columbia. 



cf. Antennae black, and broadly pectinated. Palpi dark maroon 

 brown. Thorax with a white band before ; upper side dark maroon, 

 with a short gray band behind ; beneath black ; the legs also black, 

 slightly tinged with brownish toward the extremities. Abdomen an- 

 nulated with alternate black and dirty white. 



Above. Primaries with a grayish white band near the base, ex- 

 tending from the inner nearly to the costal border, and enclosing a red- 

 dish-brown patch at the base. The middle area of the wing is dark 

 brown, tinged with reddish toward the centre, and contains a triangular 

 white discal spot, bordered on the side toward the base with black, and 

 on the other sides with grayish brown. There is a narrow white trans- 

 verse band, wider toward the inner border, between the middle and outer 

 area. A sinlious black line, on a clay-colored ground, crosses the poste- 

 rior border. Near the apex there is a round black spot, containing a 

 bluish-white crescent, with its horns toward the outer border : between 

 this and another small oblong black spot at the apex, there is a zigzag- 

 white line in the form of a W, with the upper side toward the outer 

 border. A space along the costal border, extending from this zigzag 

 line almost to the middle area, is bluish white, growing darker and 

 more indistinct as it approaches the transverse band. A short band 

 between the middle area and the grayish outer boi'der, extending from 

 the inner border a third of the way across the wing, is dark grayish 

 brown, becoming lighter as it leaves the inner border. Secondaries 

 with a small dirty white spot on the shoulder, and the anterior bor- 

 der just edged with the same. A white transverse band similar to 

 the one on the pi*imaries. The space between this band and the base 

 of the wing is dark brown, with the discal sjwt large and white : the 

 outer border is margined with clay-color, bounded on the inside by 

 an arcuate black line. Just inside of this line, there is a band of ob- 

 long black spots on a grayish ground : the space between this band of 

 spots and the transverse band is occupied by a wide grayish-brown 

 band. 



Beneath, the markings of the upper side are repeated ; but all the 

 reddish tints are wanting, so as to leave the ground-color of the wino-s 

 black, intermingled with whitish scales. The discal spots are bordered 

 with black. 



?. The antennas are less broadly pectinated than in the male, and 

 all the colors less intense. Discal spots of the primai'ies almost obso- 

 lete ; being only short hues bordered with black, and parallel to the 



