342 LEPIDOPTERA OP NORTH AMERICA. 



SPILOSOMA Steph. 



White, gray or yellow, with black dots or vittse ; abdomen with 

 five rows of black dots, one above and two rows on each side ; 

 sometimes the points indistinct. 



1. S. acrea Drury. Caprotina Cram. ; pseuderminea Peck. Figured in 



Drury, I, pi. 3 ; Cram. Pap. Exot. Ill, pi. 287 ; Sm. Abb. pi. 67. 



Head, thorax and primaries of the male cream-color or deep 

 ochre-yellow ; the surface of the latter with numerous black spots, 

 five of which are placed in a regular row along the anterior border 

 and six on the external one ; secondaries entirely yellow, with a 

 few black spots near the external edge and middle. Abdomen 

 yellow, with a row of black spots down the centre and another on 

 each side ; apex cream-colored ; under side of wings and thighs 

 deep yellow. Female. All the wings white, with numerous black 

 spots, variable in their distribution, but there is a marginal row 

 on the inferiors which is wanting in the male. Eyes and antennae 

 in both sexes, black. 



Larva white, when young ; nearly black, when full grown ; 

 intermediate stage, reddish-brown ; two yellow lines along the 

 sides, and a transverse series of orange spots on each segment. 

 From the back of each segment arises a tuft of blackish hairs. 



2. S. echo Sm. Abb. Figured in Sm. Abb. II, pi. 68. 



Wings white, veins on both sides margined with black ; abdo- 

 men luteous, with black spots. 



Georgia. 



Sm. Abbot. 



3. S. virginica Fab. Supp. Ent. s. 437. C. B. M. 668. Epimenis Drury, 



III, pi. 29. 



White, with a black point on the middle of the primaries, and 

 two black dots on the inferiors ; one in the middle and the other 

 near the posterior angle, much more distinct on the under side: a 

 row of black dots on the back ; another on each side and between 

 these a longitudinal deep yellow stripe ; femora and tibiae of the 

 fore legs ochre-yellow. 



Larva varies in color ; often of a pale yellow or straw color, 



