670 William T. M. Forbes 



lucina; it has the thin wings of H. lucina and the light band even broader, but is 

 as large as normal maia, and looks somewhat suffused. Larva like lucina; appar- 

 ently on willow. Manitoba; Wisconsin; South Dakota. 



2. H. lucina H. Edwards. More translucent than H. maia, paler, the median 

 band normally occupying fully a third of the length of the wings; the body with 

 much white hair on the black portions. 50-60 mm. 



Not rare in woods northward, replacing H. maia, and overlapping it in Massa- 

 chusetts and Colorado. September. Caterpillar black, dusted with yellow, the 

 yellow gathering into a broad stigmatal band, as in some southern larvae of 

 E. maia. Food, Spiraea, The larva has never been found on oak. 



In aberration obsoleta Reiff, the pale band is interrupted on the fore wing, in 

 aberration lutea it is yellower than usual. 



2. AUTOMERIS Hiibner 



(Hyperchiria Hiibner, Io Boisduval) 



Fore wing with strongly arched costa, and, in our species, right-angled apex; 

 hind wing rounded, slightly exceeding abdomen, at least in female. Male antennse 

 doubly bipectinate to apex, the outer pectinations rather shorter; female nearly 

 simple. Palpi extending distinctly beyond the front, which is closer-scaled than 

 in Hemileuca. No claw on tibia. Fore wing (fig. 415) with R 2 lost, upper dis- 

 cocellular short and oblique, middle discocellular transverse, but rather shorter 

 than the weak and bent lower discocellular. Mj and M 2 divergent. Hind wing 

 with cell closed, 3d A almost obsolete, as in the rest of the family. The moth 

 rests with the wings folded in a triangle. A large genus in South America. 



Eggs ovate, white, with a black spot at one end, laid in a flat cluster. Larva 

 processionary when young, the families gradually breaking up, as in Hemileuca. 

 Spines like those of Hemileuca in arrangement and structure; poisonous. Sub- 

 dorsal spines rather longer than lateral; in stage 1, with a group of terminal 

 setae. Pupa flanged, in a thin cocoon of a single layer of rather brittle silk, 

 between leaves on the ground. Hibernation in pupa. 



1. A. io Fabricius (Corn emperor). Fore wing of male bright yellow, of typical 

 female dull pinkish brown; antemedial line zigzag and outwardly oblique; post- 

 medial line waved and nearly parallel to outer margin; both dark in male and in 

 typical female. A dark brown discal bar, surrounded by a series of dark points, 

 or the whole fused into an irregular patch; the female with more or less whitish 

 scaling on the antemedial and postmedial lines, the base suffused with deep brown, 

 and a dark shade along the postmedial line. Hind wing bright yellow, a little 

 darker in female; a large blue ocellus on end of cell, centered with a white bar 

 and encircled in a heavy black ring; a fine black postmedial line and a crimson 

 subterminal band; inner margin broadly crimson. In the female variety lutheri 

 Coekerell (fusca Luther, not Walker ) , which is dominant northward, the ground 

 is deep purple, shaded with olive, with strongly contrasting greenish white ordinary 

 lines and dots about the discal bar. In the Florida race, lilith Strecker, the 

 ground of the fore wing is red in both sexes, and the hind wing orange. Under 

 side yellow, shaded with crimson, with straight dark postmedial lines on both 

 wings, and a large white-pupilled black ocellus on fore wing. Male aberration 

 argus Neumoegen and Dyar has all the markings lost except the ocelli on the 

 upper side of the hind wing and under side of fore wing. Male 60, female 80 mm. 

 (H 9:4 male, 5 female.) 



June to August, one brood. Caterpillar brown when young, with brown and 

 black spines, becoming dull yellow and then green, in the later stages with a red 

 and white stigmatal line. A general feeder. Cocoon brown, pupa black. 



Common and generally distributed. New York: Wilmington and North Creek 

 (Adirondacks), Buffalo, Ithaca, McLean, Oneonta, Albany, and south. One Ithaca 

 specimen (male) is close to variety lilith Strecker. 



