840 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
17. The fir harlequin caterpillar. 
Olggia versicolor Grote. 
< )rder LEPIDOPTBRA ; family Noctuii • 
Late in summer in Maine, feeding on the leaves of the fir and spruce, 
is to be found a singularly humped and spotted caterpillar, with four 
pairs of abdominal legs.* 
Professor Riley writes me as follows regarding this insect : 
The same species was also fouud in Virginia July &, feeding on birch, walnut, and 
one also on dead oak leaves, on which later all were feeding. 
The Virginia specimens were all parasitized except one, from which the moth 
issued July 22. 
a 
Fig. 282.— Olygia versicolor: a, from blown specimen, Marx del; b, from alcoholic, Brigham del. 
Larva. — Body short, much swollen on the second ring behind the head and the 
first abdominal segment, and humped between the last and the penultimate abdomi- 
nal legs. Head very small, striped with black. Ground tint a wood color mottled 
with gray and black, with scattered white spots. An irregular lilac dorsal band. 
A pair of conspicuous white dots on the hump behind the head, and another pair on 
the posterior hump. Body very much variegated in tints and it is difficult to describe 
briefly all the details of the markings. Length, 12 to 14 mm . 
Pupa. — Body short and thick ; the end of the abdomen unusually blunt, and 
rounded. Cremaster (or terminal spine) rudimentary, minute, with two outwardly 
curved divergent long slender spines. Length, 10 mm . 
18. Koctuid larva. 
This Noctuid larva occurred on the spruce in Maine. 
Larva. — Body a little higher than wide, especially posteriorly. Head small, 
rounded, somewhat bilobed, not quite so wide as the prothoraeic segment, which is 
narrower than the two succeeding segments and narrower than the metathoracic 
segment. The body is thickest and highest in the middle. On the third segment 
from the end is a conspicuous hump somewhat divided, with a pair of lesser tubercles 
behind. Anal legs oblique and rather long and large. Body velvety brown, but 
with somewhat of a reddish tinge. On each segment a large triangular area, the 
apex directed backwards. Also on each segment a transverse row of black warts 
and two in front, so that the four dorsal warts are in a trapezoid. The side of the 
hump near the end of the body is paler and in front is a lateral conspicuous yellowish 
streak. Length, 11"". 
19. Xoctuid larva. 
This caterpillar occurred in the Adiroudacks at Keene Flats, in June. 
Larva. — It was pale green, the color of the spruce leaves, of the usual smooth form, 
with five white distinct lines. Head shining and green. Length, 15 mm . 
* Described by Grote in Can. Ent., vn, PI. 1, fig. 4. See also Smith, Eut. Amer., 
Aug., 1859, p. 119. 
