134 Twenty-fourth Report on the State Musbvu. 



VIII. NOTES ON EUPREPIA AMERICANA (HABRIS.) 



A moth of this species, captured in a room late in the evening^ 

 where it had been drawn by a brilliant light, deposited, after having 

 been pinned, a number of eggs, of which, about one-half (seventy by 

 count) were given me to rear. 



Most of the eggs were deposited in an irregular mass, and a few were 

 lying loosely in the box. They were white, of an obovate form, 

 very slightly compressed, with a length of 8-lOOths of an inch, and a 

 breadth of 6-lOOths of an inch. The larvae emerged from the larger end, 

 leaving a shell firm and opaque, of which only an aperture was eaten. 

 Less than one-half of the eggs disclosed larvse. f The date of their 

 appearance v/as not noted. 



The first molting was on the 18th of August. Previous to the 

 following molt they were three-eighths of an inch long, of a reddish 

 brown color, with intermingled white and black hairs at the extremi 

 ties, and with a lateral lead-colored stripe. The head and tubercles 

 of the body were black. 



The second molt extended from August 22d to the 25th. :j: Length, 

 one-half inch ; anterior segments fulvons, with hairs of the saoie color. 

 The third molt commenced August 30th ; the fourth, September 9th; 

 the fifth, and last recorded, September 20th. 



The moltings were not at all uniform throughout the brood, some 

 of the number being at this time an entire molting in advance of 

 others. 



Several days after the last change above noted, the larvas varied in 

 length from six-tenths of an inch, to one inch and a tenth. Having 

 ceased feeding (and a few having died), they were placed in winter 

 quarters with the P. parthenos larvse of the preceding paper. 



When uncovered in the spring, but one of the colony was found 

 alive. It fed for about two weeks, increasing in size during that 



* In two other instances of the capture of this moth within-doors, in the same locality, during the 

 same season, it was observed that its appearance was between the hours often and eleven p. m. 



t The very large number of eggs borne by this moth— stated by Dr. Pitch to be seven hundred and 

 forty-four in an instance observed by him — might account for so many (the last deposited) having 

 failed of fertilization. 



X It is possible, in consideration of the long interval between this and the first molt, as compared 

 with the corresponding interval in P. parthenos^ t\i&X an intermediate molting mfly have escaped 

 observation. 



