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Psyche 5:41, 1888.

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April iS8S.J
PSYCHE.
NOTES ON CROSSUS LATJTARSU.5, NORTON, AND DESCRIP- TION OF THE LARVA.
BY JOHN GEORGE JACK, JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. In the latter part of August, 1886, I
collected a number of sawfly larvae,
found feeding upon the foliage of Beta-
la &a and B. 'pa'pyrifera, in this
vicinity. These larvae were nearly
fully grown and during the first week
in September they all entered some
loose soil and debris and made brown-
ish, oblong cocoons about 12 mm. long,
and 6 mm. in diameter. These were
kept out of doors in a tin box, all winter, and some of the perfect insects emerged
I I May, I 887.
On 14 June I found larvae in almost
all stages of growth, feeding upon birch trees in the Arnold Arboretum and
other places in the vicinity of Boston.
There were larvae nearly fully grown,
while others were just hatched, and
portions of the egg-shells remained,
arranged along the principal veins of
the leaf. About 18 June many of the
large larvae entered the soil to pupate, and they emerged as perfect insects
15-20. Aug. Fresh specimens continued
to appear from pupae for about two
weeks after the last date.
Larvae were found in all stages of
growth on 5 September. Most of these
had gone to the ground to pupate by
I October. Very few were found after
that date.
The following is a rough description
of the mature larva. Head black,
shining. Body dull yellowish green,
the last two segments being rather
lighter than the others and varying to
yellowish, especially beneath, and at
the extremity of the ventral segment.
A broad stripe, free from spots, extends along the dorsal surface, from the head
to the anal segment. On each seg-
merit, just above the line of spiracles, there is a liirge, irregular, black spot on each side of the body. On the anal
segment, however, they are generally
very indistinct. The spots are usually
connected together by a cloudy band
which is sometimes so dark as to seem
almost like an unbroken black stripe.
Above the tip of the anal segment there
is a large triangular or shield-shaped
spot. Below the line of spiracles, and
above the legs, there are several black
spots, somewhat irregular and contused
on the thoracic segments, but becoming
more regular and distinct on each suc-
ceeding abdominal segment, until, on
the last segment with prolegs, they
appear as two distinct oblong spots on
each side. On the eleventh segment
the spots are lessdistinctand often seem reduced to one, and in the last two seg- ments they are entirely wanting. The
ventral surface, between the legs, is
usually more or less black. The tibiae,
tarsi, claws, and basal portion of the
femora of the legs are dark brown on
the external side. The prolegs are pale
yellowish green and without spots.
There are a few very short hairs on the
head, along the sides, on the ventral
segment around the anus, on the legs,
and several on each of the prolegs.
Length 2-25 mm.
The young are pale green and the
spots are quite pale, but become darker
and more distinct as the larvae increase in size. The larvae feed together until




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[April iSSS.
they are about fully grown when they
become more scattered. The abdomen
is kept slightly raised, but is lifted
much more, and the ventral surface ex-
posed, when disturbed. They occurred
in sufficient numbers last year to defol- iate many young birches and destroy
large portions of the foliage of some
larger trees.
They seemed to devour
any species wi t11 equal avidity, and these included Betula alba, B. lenta, B.
lutea, B. nigra, and B. $a$yrz$era.
In some respects this larva resem-
bles that of Croesus se$tent~z'onalis of Europe, but in the latter, the spots are all much more distinct and separate, the upper row are not connected by the
brown hand, the legs are not so brown,
and the prolegs are tipped with brown.
Mrs. A. K. Diininoclc in "The insects
of Betula in N. A. "(Psyche, 1885, v.
4, p. 286) in giving references to this
insect says, "Norton (Proc. entom. soc.
Phil., 1862, v. I, p. 199) describes the male of this species and later (Trans.
Am. entom. soc., 1867, v. I, p. 84)
describes the female." This is evi-
dently a mistake as both of Norton's
descriptions refer to the female.
All the specimens raised by me were
females, and there are ten specimens,
all females, in the Museum of~ompara-
tive zoology at Cambridge, Mass.,
which were collected by J. Shute at
Woburn, Mass., in 1870. The only
male I have seen is an imperfect one in
the Harris collection. In his catalog
Harris wrote "Larva on birches, gre-
garious, Sept., winged May I, 1827,
do. Aug. 5, 1831."
The only references I have seen re-
garding the larva is at tlie end of Nor- ton's description of the female (Trans.
Am. entom. soc., 1867, v. I, p. 84) where lie says,- "Quite rare, wild cherry,
Ang. 16. Bred by Mr. Walsh from
larvae feeding on birch." Was the
'wild cherry" referred to, tlie cherry
birch, Betula lenta?
SOUND SLEEP OF LYCAENA AMERI-
CANA.
A few years ago, being detained in Boston until the middle of August, and having few butterflies to study, I was led to notice those few very carefully, especially L. mnericana, which was very abundant in the vacant lots, and the grass-plots in Marlborough street. I noticed that, as one side of the street grew shady, towards sunset, L. americana might be seen clinging to grass-blades, and with wings somewhat drooped, suggesting
that the muscles were relaxed by sleep.
Approaching one, I gently touched the
grass, but the butterfly remained as before. I shook the grass, then shook it less gently, but the butterfly did not stir. Then I picked the blade, and carried it in my hand, not taking any care to keep it upright, for five blocks, and even then it was only as the sun struck the grass, when I crossed the street, that the butterfly awoke, and lazily flew to a shady place, resting as before. I followed, and this time a touch was enough to startle it.
I did not arouse it a third time, but after- wards, in the country, I tried the experiment several times, always with the same result. I have always found the butterfly in the same position, more than
half-way up the
grass-blade, in the shade, and with the head up, the wings drooped to an acute, instead of a right, angle with the body.
It certainly
sleeps very soundly, and when aroused, does not become as active as in the middle of the day.
I have waked and disturbed one L. amer-
kana six times, each time immediately after it had settled down after a former awakening, and even the last time it flew but ten steps or so, and settled down asbefore.
Caroline G. Soule.




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