Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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Article beginning on page 41.
Psyche 8:41, 1897.

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March 1~97.1 P,S' 2THB. 41
median longitudinal cinereous stripe, bpread- but little shorter thiin front tarsi.
Wings
ing out on hind border of third segment and clear, third vein with three or four bristles at covering- fourth. No discal maci-ochaetae. extreme base. Tegulae saturate tawny, hal- Legs long, yellowish, tarsi black. Front teres yellow-while. Apiciil cell very nar- tarsi considerably longer than front tibiae, rowly open, ending bill little before actual but not nearly twice as long. Other tarsi tip of wing. A SOUTHERN RACE OF DATANA PERSPICUA GR. AND ROB. (VAR. MESILLAE).
BY T. D, A. COCKERELL, MESILT.A, NEW MEXICO. On Jnly 20, 1896, Mr. Slierfey, our super- intendent of schools, brought me great
numbers of a larva on Rhw camdensis (am- maficri). which lie had found in his garden in Mesillis, New Mexico. I was surprised to see that they belonged to Dafam -a genus I had never before seen or heard of in New Mexico. On comparing them with the
descriptions in Dr. Packai-d's recent magnifi- cent monograph, I felt sure, from the concol- oroils hairs an0 oilier characters, that I had before me a variety of minisha, similar to, but not identical with, the vnr. r,aZ/furiiira (Riley). The larvae were 31; mm. long, and differed from the description of miitisfra by the dark reddish prothoracic shield; the base of the legs was dull crimson; head black; lines on body snlpl~ur ycllow.
On lu\v '11, Mr. Slierfey brought me eggs sine) young larvae from the same bush, show- ing some irregularilv in llie broodh. Thc eggs were laid in great numbers, touching, on the under side of the leaf; they were chalk-white, rounded, rather low, liardly shiny, not perceptibly sculptured, with the usual black speck. The young larvae were dark crimson with chrome yellow lines and black heads.
Mr. Slierfey kindly undertook lo raise the moths for me, and they emerged in numbers at the middle of August. To my surprise, the moths were evidently not ministra, hut belonged with $e?å´s$/cu and robusfa.
Dr.
H. G. Dyiu, to whom I sent specimens, as- sures me that they are fem$icita, eliglitly tending: in the direction of robusia, but still unmistakable å´fiers/i'c~a A comparison
with Dr. Packard's figures entirely supports. this view, but the oblique streak to the apex of the primaries is almost or quite obsolete. D. fers,z5/cuo is a nor the^ 11 species, which does not appear to give off any southern segregates in the eastern U. S.; but in the Central Region we had already a very dis- tinct oKt.hoot, the D. robnsta Strecker, 1872, found in the Lower Sonoran zone in Texas. Mesilla, as Prof. Townsend and the writer have shown elsewhere, is in the Upper
Sonuran, and it is therefore not sumrising that the representntire of D, å´perspicm should be ditierent from rolinst̤ and more closely sipproximiite to the type. That Hie modification is more marked in the larva than in the imago is interesting, but not surprising, considering that the moths are nocturnal, while the larvae are exposed in broad daylight, and doubtless possess warn- ing colors.
It appears that D. ferspicua hits been
taken by Prof. Gillette at light.
In Mesilla,
when the moths must have been emerging
in great numbers, I never took any at light. For this Mesilla race of D yer.~/icita, I will propose the varietal name ?nesiiZae.



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