Article beginning on page 189.
Psyche 7:189-190, 1894.

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January 1895.1 I'.Y2-C=. 189
three pale longitudinal bands, evanescent posteriorly before reaching the scutellum. Halteres yellow, club large, somewhat
longer than its pedicel. Abdomen shovel
shaped, deep chrome yellow, thinly pube- scent above with whitish hairs, which give it a sericeous appearance in certain lights. Legs pale yellow, tibiae slightly dusky, tarsi blackish at their distal ends, othcr- "wise brownish.
Wings clear, iridescent, veins dark brown, the first longitudinal paler.
fib. On yellow flowers of Compositae,
grounds of Agricultural College, Las Cruces, N. M., Sept. 1894 (Miss 7. Casad).
A 3 was taken at San Augustine, N. M.,
on flowers, Aug. 29, 1894 (Ckll., 2260). It resembles the 2, but the abdomen is nar- rower and the eyes are contiguous.
This species is interesting from its colour, which is exactly that of the flowers it fre- quents. It occurs on the same flowers as the similarly colored bee, Perdih; l-nieola Ckll. ined. Prof. C. 13. T. Townsend tells me that. he remembers finding' a similar species in Michigan, but it was not
determined.
[This paper was received as the description of a new Dipteran and its true character learned only in time to chxnge the title.' ED.] LIFE HISTORY OF CLISIOCAMPA FRAGILIS STRETCH. BY HARRISON G. DYAR; A.M., NEW YORK.
C. FRAGILE Stretch.
I know of the larva from Nevada (Prof.
1881 - Stratcil, Papilio, i, 64. J. J. Rivers), Montana (Mr. C. A. Wileyj, iucurva lly. Edwards. Colorado (Mr. 11. W. Nash) and Wyoming. 1882 -1-Iy, Edw., Papilio, ii, 125.
I feel satisfied from a comparison of bred discolorafa hTeurnocgcn, and captured specimens from these and 1893-Neum., can. ent., xxv, 4.
var. PERLUTBA Neumoegen and Dyar,
1893-N. and D., Journ. N. Y. ent. soc.,
1, 31-
var. COKSTRICTINA Neumoegen and Dyar.
18gi-N. and U., Joiirn. N. Y. ent. soc., i,30.
Ittiesrens, Neumoegen and Dyar.
1893-N. and D., Journ. N. Y. ent. soc.
i, 31.
var. MKS Neuinoegen.
1893- Neum., Can. ent., XYV, 4.
var. AZTECA Neninoegeri.
1893-Neum., Can. ent., xxv, 5.
Fore wings all pale lnteous . $erlutea,
Fore wings partly brown . constrictina,
Fore wings brown, the lines only pale or slightly spreading . . . fragilis.
Fore wings dark gray brown . . inus.
Fore wings darker, blackish . . azfeca.
other localities that there is only this one species from the Rocky Mountains to the
Sierras and from Canada (Mr. F. 13. Wolley Dod) to Mexico. C. frafilis is the western representative of mericana. and is in turn represented in the Pacific Northwest by
ptdslis. C. disstria extends throughout
the ranges of americaua and filuvialis and also extends into California (erosa and
thorcicica are synonyms); but does not
enter the range offragi7i.t to my knowledge.* The other species (caI'y>rnici, cowstricta and ambisimilis) appear to be confined to California, and are yet imperfectly worked out. The following life history is based on larvae bred from eggs kindly sent me
by Mr. H. W. Nash of Pueblo, Col.
Eggs. Columnar, flat above, rounded
below; upper surface round or elliptical *Since the above was written. I have seen disstria from Guadalajara, Mexico.




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with a concentric grove; white, smooth,
stained by the brown covering froth in an angular marking, corresponding to the
edges of the individual bubbles. Shell
rattier thick, opaque, pearly inside. Laid close together on the rounded end in a
single layered columnar mass forming a
band reaching half way round a twig or a patch on the side of a larger stem near the ground (Wilcy). Froth rather light brown with shining continuous surface.
First staye. Head rounded, shining black ; width 0.4 mm. Body black, not shining,
marked by a double I-UK of minute orange dots subdorsally. Hair nearly white, quite thick, curving forward dorsally and hack- ward subventrall~. A nm-row subventral
i,:e and tips of abdominal feet pale. Liiter the subdorsnl orange patches become large, distinct on joints i, to 10. Each patch is narrowed centrally at the large wart i and Is widest posteriorly in the middle of which is the s mall obscure wart ii. The warts bear several hairs but Eire not well marked. Second stage. Head black; bsiscs of
antennae whitish; width 0.6-0.65 tntn. Body black with a narrow, straight, reddish
ad-dorsal line; slightly spreading at the anterior find posterior edge of each segment, absent at the extremities. A white sub-
ventral line and fainter substigmata1 one. Dorsal hair reddish, subventral hail- paler. Segmental incisures pale, giving a banded appearance when the body is bent. There
arc now some short hairs from the skin,
Third stags. Black, hair abnndant,
reddish dorsally, white subventrally. Width of head 1.1-1.1s mm. Red ad-dorsal line
slight, rather broken;
subventral pale line
quite distinct, suhstigtnatal line faint, venter gi-ayisli. No other marks at first, but later a series of narrow, elliptical, dorsal blue spots with pointed ends distinct only
centrally, closely bordered by the pulveru- lent, narrow, reel sul-dorsal line. In the sub- dorsal space traces of blue dots. The red marks are much more reduced than in the
previous stage.
Fourth stap.
Head powdery blue, black
below, bases of antennae and line above the mouth white; width 1.8-z.omm. Body black, thickly covered with powdery blue up to and enclosing the position of the subdorsal blue dots, leaving a series of segmentary lateral black patches. Dorsal space black, con-
taining a rather broad dorsal blue band, broken at incisurcs and the single crinkled and broken omnge ad-dorsal line. Hair
red, thickest dorsally and subventrally and paler snbventriilly. joints 12 and 13 nnorna- mented, powdery blue. There is con-
siderable variation in the amonnl: of blue laterally. In some. the lateral black spots form a continuous band, scp:ii-aLing a blue band corresponding to the dots; some hxvc this band broken into the ordinary spots and only streaks of blue below and then the
orange is better developed, showing a little of its subdorsal portion as well as the nd- dorsal portion stroiigcr than usual. 'The dorsal line is continuous in a few, paler blue than the lateral area. The other line8 are obsolete.
F(f/It stage. (Interpolated stage,*) Like the last stage, but the blue a little less whitish mid not so confluent. Width of
head 2.2-2.4 mm.
Fifth {or sixi/i) stage. Head powdery
blue with black dots; antennae whitish q base; line above month pale; palpi and
spinning organ pale, ringed with black;
-. .. . -
Most of the larvae had but five stages; but a few less vigorous ones had six stages. It appears from the widths of head that the larvae grow regularly on the basis of five stages up to the stage IV. It is then a matter of degree of nutrition whether they complete their growth in five stages or in six, in 1lie latter case interpolating an extra stage with an intermediate width of head. This is probably true of all species of the genus and explains the large measurement which I obtained in the case of C. erom (= dissfna) in stage I11 (Psyche, V, 364). The calculated series for C. frayll'is for the widths of head is .41, .69, 1.15, 1.92, (2.48), 3.2; ratios .60 and square root of .Go = ,774.




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width 3.2 mm.
Body pale blue or blue-gray
up to and including the blue band in sub- dorsal space leaving a few black dots and the row of lateral spots which indent the lower edge of the band. Dorsal space black, the blue dorsal line broken a little in middle of each seqnent or continuous. Red marks absent or a prtly duplicated ad-dorsal line with a few subdorsal dots. Hair sill red, thin dorsalb, not obscuringtthe body, quite thick subventrally 'but not tufted. Venter gray at first, later black, often patched with blue.
Cocoon and pupa :IS in the other species of Clisiociiinpii.
Food @mi.s. Willow and poplar (Nasli),
wild cherry and wild rose (Wiley) and wild gooseberry.
UNCERTAINTY OF THE DURATION
OF ANY STAGE IN THE LIFE-
HISTORY OF MOTHS.
BY CAROLINE G. SOULE,
BROOKLIXE, MASS,
So much emphasis has been laid on the
number of moul+.s and the duration of each stage of larval life of our moths, that it seems to me worth "while to show a few
insttinccs of Llle vizrhition thilt occurs. I think that it cannot be stated positively that any species has a certain number of moults, or that any stage lasts a certain number of days.
I have had one brood of 11. caq'ae moult four times, and another moult five times. The same difference occurrcd with C.&-
landis larvae.
Owing to my arrangements of the larvae
there is no-or the minimum- chance of
mistake, the moults beii~galways noted from the same boxful of larvae, and those always the first hatched.
The following tables show a few instances of variation among Sphingid larvae.
Diff. /Ì
Sfafa. 1389. Days. ihi. Dq.r. No. ofDys. Eggs laid July 9 July 6 891 Ices
than 1889 by
Hatched July 17 8 July q 7
rst nx~ult (' ii 4 " 26 3
and moult " 27 6 " 20 4 2
3rd modt Aug. i 5 Aug. 24 4
4th moult " 8 7 jo 6 i
Stopped eating " 29 ai 110 record
Pupated Sept. 7 9 '' ''
Stayi!, 1889. Days.
Eggs bid Jmw 14
Hatched Jtiic 23 9
ist moult " 29 6
?nd ~noult July 4 5
yd. moull ', V, 4
4th moult " 14 6
Slopped eating " 20 6
Pupated " 27 7
Stq. 88q. Days.
Eggs hid July 9
Hatched July 20 rr
tst moult " 29 q
nd moult Aug. 4 6
gd moult ', 13 8
4thmoult ' ' 2 ~ 9
Slopped eating Sept. 5 15
Pnpated '' 12 7
ng. ;a
1890. Days, No. o m s .
July an 1890 less
than 1889 by
Aug. 8 m
" i6 8
" 22 6 o
" 29 7
Sept. 5 7
" 14 8 7
" 18 4
3
Hemaris dz'ffi̤is
Dg. i,'
Stap. ,891. Says. 1891. D~J. No. of'Dys. Eggs laid no record July 7 1891 1st
brood had
Hatched,
no record July 14 7
st modt
tm record ''
17 3
2nd moult May 30 #< 20 3
trd moult June 2 -- j " 23 j same
4th moult " 13 ii " 27 4 7 more
Stopped eating " 16 5 Aug. 2 6 r less
Pupated '( 18 3 ‰Û y 5 2 less than
2nd brood.




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