Article beginning on page 436.
Psyche 8:436-437, 1897.
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486 PSYCHE. [December i8gq.
hardened, as did those which have not
yet given the imago. This fact I no-
ticed at the time, and kept watch of the chrysalids thinking that they might be
going to decay.
Out of 55 chrysalids which I kept for
myself only these three gave the butter- fly, yet out of doors there were very
many freshly emeigecl butterflies fiom
August 16th until September 20th.
and these butterflies oviposited as plen- tifully as the earlier ones, giving larvae which pupated in October, the last one
I know about pupating on October
20th. I found small leaves of caiaway
bearing six, nine, thirteen, and fifteen eggs each, in different stages of develop- ment! as shown by their color. One
butteifiy only I saw lay two eggs on
the same leaf, and these two were 011
different divisions of the leaf, one being on the under side, the other on the up-
per side and close against another egg
which had turned almost orange in
color.
Prom watching the ovipositing I feel
convinced that the butterfly does not
see clearly, but depends very much on
its antennae to distinguish between such plants as tansy and caraway. Several
times a butterfly would fly to the low
tansy leaves growing close by the cara-
way, and bend its abdomen to place the
egg, when it would hesitate, touch the
leaf with its antennae, and fly to another plant. If this proved caraway the egg
would be laid.
The nearly full fed larvae preferred
the green seeds of the caraway to the
leaves.
Of all the laivae I reared from the
egg or took from plants out of doors
only one died, and that was stung by a
tachinid.
PSEUDOPOMALA AND ITS ALLIES.
BY SAMUEL 13. SCL-DDER, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Pse~dopomala was founded by Morse
on an anomalous Acridiiin of New
England (since found as far west as
Utah) having a Tryxaline aspecl, and
which he placcd in that subfamily and
iii this was followed by McNeill, On
account of the distinct though slight
pyramidal elevation on the prusternum
I have since placed it in the Mcsopcs,
a group otherwise confined to the Old
World. It bears a close general resem-
bJance to the oriental Gelas~orhinus
Sauss., has a similar low prosternal
spine, and an unmistakable Tryxaline
aspect, due largely to the tricarinate
pronoturn mid ensiform antennae,
which it shares also with Opoinala.
My opinion of its affinities has been
strengthened by finding in our country
another allied genus, whose type is
Meso~5.s c~d/n(Iricus Brim., which has
a similar prostcrnal prominence and in
which the principal distinction from
Pae~iJopomala lies in the absence of
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December iSoo.1 PSYCHE. 437
lateral carinae on the pronoturn and its consequent much closer resemblance
to the Leptysmae. It also possesses
the rasp on the hind femora of the
male, noted by Morse in Pseudopomala.
The two genera may be separated by
the following table : -
al. Plane of lateral foveolae of the
vertex inflexed ; eyes subacun~inate
above, broadest below the middle;
pronoturn with distinct lateral carinae
in both sexes ; mesothoracic lobes short, well separated Pseudo$omala Morse.
a2. Plane of lateral foveolae of the
vertex depressed but vertical ; eyes
regnlarly elliptical, almost or quite as rounded above as below, broadest at
the middle; pronotum with no lateral
carinac or they are found feebly on the
metazona of the male ; mesothoracic
lobes moderately long, attingent or
subattingent ParopomaZa, gen. nov.
I have before me three species bc-
longing to this latter type, all coming
from the western half of the [hiitcrl
States. They may be thus separated :-
a l. Tegmina not reaching tip of abdo-
men or even tip of hind fcmora; sub-
genital plate of male elongate, half as
long again as the last ventral segment.
b 1. Teslaceons ; antennae of female
as long as the hindr femora ; median
carina of pronot~m rather coarse ;
nesotl~oracic lobes rngulose
cjdi?zd?'ica Brim.
b '. Green or pallid ; antennac of
female shorter than the hind femora ;
median carina of pronotnni very Oel-
icak ; rnesotl~oracic lobes smooth
calamus sp. nov.
a '. Tcgmina reaching tip of abdomen
and surpassing' hind femoia ; hubgenital plate of male not very long, no longer
than the last vential segment
virgata sp. nov.
Mesops wyowinyenyis Thon~, also
belongs to this genus, if indeed it is to be distinguished fro111 P. cylindrica. It
comes from Wyoming.
The first of these three species (Me-
sops cy/id~*icus BSLIII. Proc. U. S. mat. mils. xii, 48-49, 1890) I have seen only from Valentine, Nebr. (Brunei') and
Fort :Collins, Colo. (Baker). Paro-
å´[lomal calamus is from Lancaster,
Cal., Aug. I (A. P. Morse) ; I have
only seen z J, I
9 . It is the slender-
est form of the three, of a pale green
color with EL slender hoary stripe run-
ning backward from the lower edge of
tlic eye, bordering narrowly the lower
edge of the pronotum. Of P~?*O-
å´[lomal virgata I have before me
nearly a hundred specimens collected
by A. P. Morse at Mesilla, N. Mex.,
Junc 29; between Gila Bend and
Yum:~, Ariz., July 4; and in Calil'nr-
nia at Palm Springs on bunch grass,
July 12, Cahon Pass, July 10, Laneas-
ter Aug. I, and Kern City, Aug. 4.
Generally of a pale green color with a
tendency to lxcoming cinereous above,
it varies greatly from having the sides
.
of the head, pronoturn and thoracic
pleura wholly green to their being
chalky white on lowcr and dark fuscous
on upper half, sharply delimited; most
commonly L11c upper half is more or
less infiiscnlcd and the lower half pale testaceous or sordid white ; the anten-
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488 PSYCHE. [December 1899.
nae are commonly ferruginous or ferru-
and Los Angeles July 26.
According
gineo-testaceous. Immature specimens
to Mr. Morse P. virgata flies only a
of one or the other species were also
little but leaps fairly well notwithstand- taken in California at Colton filly 17
ing- its slender legs.
LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GEOMETRIDAE. - VII. BY HAKR1SON G. DYAR, WASHINGTON, D. C.
MesoZettca intermediuta Guen. This larva has not been previously described.
Kgg. Regularly elliptical, one end
slightly truncate, but roundedly; from side view somewhat wedge-shaped, the truncate end the thicker; surface covered with flat- tened elongate hexagonal cell-areas, making it a many-sided polyhedron, the areas
scarcely at all sunken ; size .7 x .5,5 x .3 mm. Sfas-e I. Head round, whitish,eye black, mouth brown; width about .3 mtn. Body
slender cylindrical, colorless, transparent, food dark green. No tubercles nor shields perceptible; setae short and fine, obscure, pale. No marks, the skin slightly shining; segments slightly moniliform, joint 10 a lit- tle widened at the skies, but not marked. Stage IT.
Head pale yellowish, eye black,
mouth brown; width about .5 mm. Body
smooth, slightly shining, transparent, all dark green from the food, tracheal line white. No marks and no perceptible tubercles or setae, which under a strong lens are fine and small, the tubercles colorless.
S/qe III. Head round, about as high as
*
joint 2. not bilobed, dull yellowish, the setae distinct, pale; ocelli black; widtli ahout .85 mm. Skin transparent, yellowish, the cen- tral
part of the body light brown by trans-
parency, till filled with food when all appears dark green. Tracheal line white; feet clear yellowish: no marks. Setae inodei-ateiy
long, fine, dusky; tubercles small, colorless ; spiracles brown. Later there are faint, nar- row, whitish addorsal and subdorsal lines between which a dorsal white shade appears, joining them.
Stage IV.
Head rounded, the apex under
joint 2, translucent Intenus, a broad black band to apex of each lobe before ocelli; widtli 1.4 mni. Body very pale ocherous brown,
marked with irregn1i.u shades of brown-black. A narrow dorsal line, edged by the whitish suldorsal one; subdorsal line whitish, edged above by black; a waved, geminate lateral brown line; a few faint ventral streaks and double intersegmental spots. Dorsally a
series of large patches on joints 6, 7, 8 and 9 posteriorly. The first is a spot on each side of the dow~l line behind a widening of that line; the second has these murks united into a V; the others iu-e large patr.hes extending between tubercles i and ii notched befoi-p and behind. A heavy lateral shading on thorax: also dorsal dots, formed by the widening of the dorsal line on the anterior ed,~es of joints 6 to 9; a dark dot at tubercle ii of joint 10 and a heavy shade over the sides ofjoints 10 to 13 cind on the foot of joint 10. Posterior half of the foot ofjoint 12 and the anal plate pale. Setae fine, pale; the venter has six obscure, whitish, longitiidiiiiil lines. Cocoon a slight web in the ground.
LArvae from Chain Bridge, Virginia.
Eggs June 30th) mature larvae July 17th ancl imagoes again July 3oth.
Food^plant. Jewel weed (Z?n$atie?zs.)
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