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Psyche 6:110-111, 1891.

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PSYCHE.
[July 1891.
NOTES ON BOAIBYCID LARVAE.-I.
BY HARRISON G. DYAR, NEW YORK, N. Y.
NOLA OVILLA Grote.
1875. Grote, Can. ent., 7,221.
1884.
Packard, Amer. nat., 18, 726.
Larva.
Dr. Packard makes the following
statements : " It differs from Arctian and Lithosian larvae in having one less pair of abdominal legs. The body is broad and
much flattened, rather short, with four pairs of well developed abdominal feet; the first pair being situated on the fourth abdominal segment. The body i.s hairy, though not
densely so; on each segment are four dorsal tubercles, from which radiate short dusky hairs; on the side is a larger and longer tubercle from which arise lateral, very
long hairs. Length 13 mm."
Cocoon. "Boat-shaped, flattened, oval
cylindrical, closely attached to the surface of a leaf. It is composed of silk, covered closely on the inside with bits of oak leaves." NOLA TRINOTATA Walker.
1866.
Walk., Cat. Brit. mus., pt. 35, pg.
1902, Lebena.
18~1. Butler, Insect life, v. 3, p. 297, sexmnculata Grote.
1877. Grote, Can. ent., v. 9, p. 235.
Nola.
1890.
Dyar, Insect life, v. 3, p. 61.
Larva. I have elsewhere described this
larva.
It is a thick, somewhat flattened in-
sect, the last segment small, the abdominal feet consisting ofbut four pairs, as in the preceding. It is furnished with piliferous warts as above. It lives exposed upon the surface of the leaves, forming no web.
Cocoon. Curiously constructed of little
pieces of bark laid together like bricks. It is
interesting to watch the larva forming its cocoon, which it does by building up two parallel walls by spinning the little pieces of outer bark together by their edges, and sub- sequently drawing them together from the inside. The pieces of bark are bitten off the branch on which it forms its cocoon.
NOLA HYEMALIS Strrtch.
1885. Stretch, Ent. amer., I, 102.
Larva. Congeneric with the above. Body
flattened, wider than high, tapering very slightly to the extremities ; abdominal feet present only on the 4th, jth,6th and ~othab- dominal segments. Head small, pale testa- ceous, whitish above the mouth with brown- ish marks at the sides; ocelli black. Body pinkish, cervical shield bisected, dark; three rows of piliferous warts on each side as in 3. sexmaculata. The upper two are brown- ish and bear short hairs ; the third row (lat- eral) is orange, and bears long, whitish hairs. On the body is an interrupted dorsal and waved subdorsal line, and brown dorsal shades connected with the lines; spiracles black ; length of larva 10 mm.
Cocoon. Not strong, composed entirely of silk, and not firmly fastened to a support. It
is elliptical, opaque white.
The pupa is with-
out cremaster, light brown, and pilose.
I found a number of these larvae on willow near Phoenix, Arizona, in November, 1889. NOLA SORGHIELLA Rtley.
1882. Riley, Report U. S. dep. agr.,
187, pi. 11.
Larva.
This is congeneric with the pre-
ceding species, as may be seen from Prof. Riley's figures. 'It is of the same general shape, and has the characteristic four pairs of abdominal feet, but differs from the other species strikingly in habit, as the larvae ap- pear to live socially in a web.
These four species of Nola are the only
ones of which the larvae are known, so far as I am aware.
Parks 6 110.1 12 tprc-1903). htlp:/lpsyclir.niIclub orgW6-lIO.htd



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PSYCHE.
Ill
ORGYIA DEFINITA Packayd.
1864. Packard, Proc. ent. soc. Phil., 3, 332.
1888. Lintner, 4th rept. N. Y. state en- tom., p. 50.
1891. Thaxter, Can. ent., 23, 34.
This species has six stages in larvae that produce male moths, and seven stages for female moths. I have observed all but the first of these stages, and the life history, as far as I have made it out, is as follows :- Egg. Nearly spherical, the top a little
flattened ; a large, central, brownish spot with a paler dot at the apex of the egg, sur- rounded by a concentric concolorous ring; diameter I mm. The eggs are laid in masses on the cocoon of the female moth, but are not naked as in the 0. nova, nor covered with froth as in 0. leucostigma, but with the hairs from the body of the moth, which are rubbed on by the female before it dies. The eggs are gummed together, and the hair also adheres to them. The winter is passed in this stage as with the allied species.
Firs/ stage. Not observed.
Second stage. Head pale whitish, width 0.7 mm. Ocelli black, mouth brown. The
warts on the body are small, except a large pair on joint 2, which bear two or three short plumed black hairs; a few more of these
hairs arise dorsally on joint 12. The other warts bear a few long white hairs. The body is pale whitish, the retractile warts on joints 10 and 11 whitish. There are traces of the two anterior of the four dorsal, brush-like tufts which are seen in the mature larva on joints 5-8. Even in this early stage the char- acteribtic markings of the mature larva are developed, though somewhat indefinitely. Third stage. Head pale yellowish, jaws
black; width I mm. The warts are arranged as in the mature larva, small, concolorous with the body, the large ones on joint 2 bear. ing thin pencils of plumed black hairs. A similar pencil, mixed with shorter brown hairs, arises fromjoint 12. The body is pale whitish, with a yellowish subdorsal band on the posterior segments and a stigmatal band running the whole length, wider on joints 5, 6, and 7. Three dorsal, deep yellow tufts on joints 5, 6, and 7 respectively. The warts bear thin, whitish hairs ; the dorsal retractile ones on joints 10 and I I are whitish with a blackish shade around them. Length of
larva 10 mm.
Fourth stage.
Head as before, with a small
brown shade above the mouth ; width 1.5 mm. The body differs only in being shaded with blackish dorsally and laterally. The yellow tufts are now four in number on joints 5-8. The cervical shield is pale yellow like the head.
Fifth stage. Width of head 2.1 mm. Be-
tween the yellow dorsal tufts are a series of velvety black spots, concealed unless the in- sect is disturbed. The dorsum is gray,
broadly so anteriorly, but partly replaced by a yellow subdorsal band on jointsg-13. The lateral region is gray, the warts whitish and partly surrounded by yellow. A narrow
stigmata1 band. Otherwise as before.
Sixth stage (3 mature larva).
Head pale
yellow, shiny, the labrum and antennae
white; width 2.8 mm. Body pale yellow, a pale, almost colorless, dorsal band, replaced on joint 2 by the pale yellow cervical shield containing two darker yellow warts, narrow and greenish on joints 3 and 4, widening and enclosing the yellow dorsal brush-like tufts on joints 5-8, narrowed on joints 9-12 en- closing the concolorous retractile tubercles, and absent on joint 13.
A narrow subdorsal
and fainter stigmatal, similarly colored lines. These bands are in some specimens more or less blackish, or black,
blue-gray, or dark
brown, and there is a velvety black spot be- tween the dorsal tufts on joints 6, 7 and 8. The warts are all pale yellow; the pencils on joint 2 are long, plumed, black; that on joint 12 of light brown hair with a few long black plumed ones on its posterior side. The other hair is long, thin and white.
The larva does not differ structurally from 0. Zeitcostigma, but differs markedly in color.



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112 PSYCHE. [July 1891.
Seventh stage ($ larvae only). Head
pale yellow minutely mottled with grayish spots; labrum, antennae and a spot before the eyes, white; ocelli and jaws black; width 3.5 mtn. The body is as in the previous
stage, but the warts on the cervical shield are not distinctly darker. The dorsal black- ish or pale gray shade is in triplicate on joints 3 and 4. Spiracles white in a fine black border. The body is often bright yel- low, as are the dorsal tufts, and even the hail- is yellowish.
Cocoon.
Double, thin, made of silk and
the hairs of the larva.
$ Pn'pa.
Cylindrical, the abdominal seg-
ments tapering, the eyes, wing cases and an- tenna cases especially prominent; a little depressed behind the thorax. Seini-trans- parent, shiny yellowish white, the back cov- ered with long, thin, silky white hairs; cre- master flat, terminating in several brown hooks well fastened in the silk of the cocoon. Length 12 mm.; width 5 mm.
$2 Pupa. Robust, thickest through the
2nd to 4th abdominal segments, elsewhere smaller, of nearly even width; thorax and head small, no wing cases, leg cases small. Last segment rounded. cremaster flat, rather broad at base, terminating in a number of brown divergent hooks. Color sernitrans- parent, shiny, very pale yellowish, without marks. Over the dorsum considerable fine, rather long, whitish silky hair. Length 18 mm., greatest diameter 8 mm.
$ Imago. Of the same structure as 0.
lencos~ma, but not white, the color of the down, which is especially abundant on the ventral side, being light brown. A small black spot on the second abdominal segment. Tlie rudimentary wings are dark cinereous. The $ imago is very simi.lar to 0. Ieucostig- ma, but can be distinguished by its darker color and heavier black markings.
Food'plants. Dr Thaxter gives oak, but I have found the species as omnivorous as 0. Zeucostigma. My specimens were fed mainly on maple and witch-hazel.
THE GERM-BAND OF INSECTS.*
Those who have watched the advance in
our knowledge of. insect embryology during ' the past three or four years will be deeply interested in Prof. GI-aber's latest treatise. Like his muscid paper it represents many years' study, but unlike that work it covers a very considerable ground, being a compre- hensive description of the germ-band of a number of insects. The species investigated belong to the genera: Lina, Lema, Tele-
phorus, Melolontha, Hydrophilus ; Pieris, Gastropacha, Bombyx, Zygaeria ; Hylotoma ; Stenobothrus, Mantis, and Gryllotalpa. It will be seen that this list comprises repre- * Vergleichende studien am keimstreif der insecten, von Veit Gr'iber. Denkschr. d. math. naturwiss. classe d. k. akad. d. wiss. Wien. Bd. 57, iKgo, 631- 734. 13 colored plates. 4".
sentatives of four of the important orders. Prof. Graber treats of the formation and method of growth of the germ-band, its re- lations to the envelopes (amnion and serosa), its segmentation (both internal and external) and its appendages. Chapters are introduced on the formation of the germ-layers and on the origin of the body spaces. Many pages are given up to a minute and critical discus- sion of the results achieved by other investi- gators. The work concludes with a long
chapter on the development of the nervous system.
In a brief sketch we cannot hope to do
justice to the mass of matter with which Prof. Grabei- presents us; it will be possible to touch on only a few of the questions with which he attempts to deal. Before so doing



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