LASIOCAMPA QUERCUS. 69 



the widest. Head: uniformly brown; clypeus triangular, similarly coloured, 

 smooth ; the two lobes covered with pale brown and longer grey hairs. Body : 

 coloration sharply divided on either side by a white supraspiracular line ; the 

 dorsal area (thoracic and abdominal segments) bright golden-brown with wide 

 velvety-black segmental incisions, and much less denned subsegmental incisions 

 (6 subsegments to abdominal segments, arranged as — black, red-haired, red-haired, 

 red-haired, red-haired, black — the first and last subsegments of two successive 

 segments make the velvety-black segmental incisions) ; a series of grey hairs 

 down mediodorsal line, longer than brown hairs, and forming a somewhat marked 

 series of loose tufts, one on each segment ; sides below supraspiracular line, 

 blackish -grey, covered with gi'ey hairs pointing downwards and backwards ; 

 the incisions less distinctly marked ; the spiracles (including the prothoracic) 

 conspicuous, white ; the pro thorax swollen laterally, fairly well developed traces 

 of " ear- tubercles ; " meso- and metathorax each divided into 4 subsegments; 

 between subsegments 3 and 4 of the meso- and metathorax, and in the segmental 

 incision between abdominal segments 8 — 9, is a pale, flesh-coloured supraspiracular 

 boss represented in incisions of other segments by a small boss bearing red-brown hairs 

 only noticeable when the larva is crawling, and almost of the same tint as the dorsal 

 clothing ; when at rest the terminal segments are drawn under the 8th abdominal 

 in such a manner as to give the latter a slightly humped appearance ; the venter 

 velvety-black, hardly so intense as the dorsal incisions, but sharply cut off from 

 the lateral areas ; the true legs are brown in colour, as also are the prolegs ; on the 

 1st and 2nd abdominals are brown warts representing marginal tubercles (vii), and 

 well . developed at base of prolegs ; the anal flap edged with bright red. This larva 

 does not roll in a ring when disturbed, as does the larva of var. meridionalis from 

 Cannes [Tutt. Received, March nth, 1899,- from Mr. Brabant, the latter having 

 obtained it with others from Sicily when small, and reared them through the winter 

 on fullgrown (old) leaves of ivy]. Pupa : ? . Coloured like that of L. var. vibumi, 

 but hardly so cylindrical in shape, the hollowed or indented wing-cases somewhat 

 of the form of those observed in the pupa of Pachygastrla trifolii, but in a much less 

 marked degree ; the wing-cases also appear to project more at the base. Cocoons : 

 Vary much in size, one is 1-3 inches long and -7 inches thick (Bacot). Darker than 

 those of L. quercus (Bellier). [Habits of Larva : Lives singly or in groups of two or 

 three; it hides during the heat of the day (Bellier). Parasites : Ophion undulatus, 

 Grav., Metopins dentatus, Grav. (Bellier). Foodplants : Rhamnus alatemus 

 (Bellier), bramble (Dahl), &c. Time of appearance: September, October and 

 November ; possibly pupae that go over the winter emerge in July (Bellier).] 

 Localities: Sicily (Dahl). Spain: Andalusia (Staudinger). 



The var. sicula is the most specialised of all the races of L. quercus. 

 It is exceedingly constant in its " russet" ground colour, the narrow 

 transverse band of the forewing, and the orange-yellow marginal area 

 of the hindwing. The larval characters, too, appear to be pretty con- 

 stant. It has, as we have already shown, been probably much confused 

 by collectors and authors with var. viburni (under the name of 

 var. spartii), but is a very distinct and separate race. Staudinger did 

 not diagnose this form when he named it {Cat., ist ed., p. 30), but 

 simply cited the references: " Frr., 26, i., p. 177 (October, 1831); 

 Tr., x., i., 191 (excl. cit. Hb.); Bdv., Ic, 66, 1 — 2." This leaves 

 the descriptions and figures of these three authors as detailing the 

 characters of the variety. In his Catalogue, 2nd ed., p. 69, Staud- 

 inger describes sicula as : " Al. ant. fasciis angustis flavis, al. post, 

 margine lato flavo." Freyer writes (N. Btr., i., p. 48) : " Gastropacha 

 spartii, Tab. 26. The insect figured by Hiibner as B. spartii (fig. 

 173) appears to be merely an aberration of our common quercus; 

 yet I am much inclined to refer Hubner's fig. 224* here, since 



* This is a ? , somewhat more brownish-ochreous than in L. quercus, the 

 area within the transverse line, i.e., to the base, dai'ker than the outer marginal areas 

 in all the wings, and with a distinct reddish tinge over the darker areas, the inner 

 edge of the pale band on forewings being more distinctly reddish. One suspects 

 it, however, as a German example, vide Hubner's text, p. 143. 



