FAMILY LIPARIDE

"The study of entomology is one of the most fascinating of pursuits. It takes its votaries into the treasure-houses of Nature, and explains some of the wonderful series of links which form the great chain of creation. It lays open before us another world, of which we have been hitherto unconscious, and shows us that the tiniest insect, so small perhaps that the unaided eye can scarcely see it, has its work to do in the world, and does it."-REV. J. G. WOOD.

The following characterization of the family is adapted from the pages of Sir George F. Hampson's "Moths of India," Vol. I, P. 432:

'A family of moths generally of nocturnal flight, though some genera, as Aroa of the Eastern Hemisphere and Hemerocampa, are more or less diurnal in their habits. The perfect insects are mostly clothed with long hair-like scales upon the body. The males have the antennæ highly pectinated, the branches often having long terminal spines, and spines to retain them in position. The females often have a largely developed anal tuft of hair for covering the eggs. The proboscis is absent. The legs are hairy. The frenulum is present, except in the genus Ratarda, which does not occur in America. The fore wing with vein 1a not anastomosing with 1b; 1c absent except in Ratarda;

5 from close to lower angle of cell. Hind wing with two internal veins; 5 from close to lower angle of cell, except in the eastern genera Gazalina and Porthesia, 8 nearly touching 7 at middle of cell and connected with it by a bar.

Larva hairy; generally clothed with very thick hair or with thick tufts of hair, and forming a cocoon into which these hairs are woven, they being often of a very poisonous nature.'

Genus GYNÆPHORA Hübner

(1) Gynæphora rossi Curtis, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 10, ô, Fig. 11, 9.

The genus is arctic, and the species is found in the arctic

regions of America, the specimens figured having been received by the writer from Point Barrow in Alaska.

Genus NOTOLOPHUS Germar

(1) Notolophus antiqua Linnæus, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 18, 3. Syn. nova Fitch.

The moth is found in Europe and in the northern portions of the United States and in Canada.

Genus HEMEROCAMPA Dyar

The females in this genus are wingless, or have the wings at most rudimentary. The eggs are deposited in masses, generally upon the surface of the cocoon from which the female has emerged. The larvæ are voracious feeders; and as the species are generally very prolific, the insects inflict a great deal of damage upon vegetation.

(1) Hemerocampa vetusta Boisduval, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 19, 8.

Syn. cana Henry Edwards; gulosa Henry Edwards.

The insect replaces on the Pacific coast the following species, which in its habits it closely resembles.

(2) Hemerocampa leucostigma Abbot & Smith, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 20, 8, Fig. 21, 9. (The White-marked Tussock Moth.)

Syn. leucographa Geyer; intermedia Fitch; borealis Fitch; obliviosa Henry Edwards.

The moth is widely distributed in the Appalachian subregion, and its ravages upon shade-trees and shrubbery are matter of familiar observation. The insect is double-brooded in the more northern portions of its range, and triplebrooded farther south. The first generation is matured from eggs which, having been deposited in the fall of the year, remain in situ upon the cocoons upon which they were deposited until they are hatched by the heat of the sunshine of spring. The caterpillars rapidly develop, and the second generation, which is always much more numerous than the first, begins to appear about the middle of July in the latitude of New York and Philadelphia.

A third generation follows in the month of September. This generation lays the eggs from which the larva which appear in the following spring are hatched.

The female, as has already been stated, is wingless, and lives solely for the purpose of oviposition. Having laid her eggs, which she covers with the hairy scales which she plucks from the abdomen, and mingles with a viscid secretion, which she deposits with the

eggs, and which on drving becomes hard

and brittle, she dies. The young larva on being hatched has the power of spinning a

thin thread of silk, with which it lowers

d

FIG. 183.-H. leucostigma. a, female; b, young itself from its resting- larva, magnified; c, female pupa; d, male pupa. place when disturbed, (After Riley.)

and by means of which it regains the place from which it has dropped. This power is lost as the insect develops after successive molts. The mature caterpillar is a rather striking and not unbeautiful creature. The head is brilliant vermilion in color; the body is white banded with black, and adorned with black-tipped tufts and bundles of cream-colored hairs. There is considerable disparity in the size of the larvæ and the pupæ of the two sexes, as is partially shown in Fig. 183. The larva and the pupa of the female moth are generally twice as large as those of the male.

The best means of combating the ravages of this insect is to see to it that in the fall and winter the cocoons, which may be

found adhering to the twigs of trees and shrubs and secreted in the nooks and crannies of fences, are gathered together and destroyed. It is also useful to spray the young foliage of

(After Riley.)

to attack with any one

of the preparations which are made by reputable firms for the purpose of destroying the larvæ of this and other destructive insects. which attack our shade-trees. The spraying should take place at intervals when the young larvæ are observed to be moving upward upon the trunks of the trees.

(3) Hemerocampa definita Packard, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 17, 3.

This species, which is closely allied to the last, is found in the northern Atlantic States. What has been said as to the habits of H. leucostigma applies also to this insect.

Genus OLENE Hübner

(1) Olene achatina Abbot & Smith, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 9, 8. Syn. parallela Grote & Robinson; tephra Hübner; cinnamomea Grote & Robinson.

The moth, which is somewhat variable in the style and intensity of the dark markings upon the wings, is found in the Appalachian subregion, but is somewhat more frequent in the south than in the north.

(2) Olene leucophæa Abbot & Smith, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 7, ô, Fig. 8, 9.

Syn. basiflava Packard; atrivenosa Palm; manto Strecker.

This is likewise a variable insect, the range of which is practically coincident with that of the last-mentioned species.

Genus PORTHETRIA Hübner

(1) Porthetria' dispar Linnæus, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 12, 8, Fig. 13, 9. (The Gypsy Moth.)

This well-known insect is a native of the Old World. A number of years ago, a gentleman interested in entomology, and residing at the time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received from a friend in Europe a number of cocoons of the moth, from which the insects in due season emerged. A few of the number were prepared and mounted in his cabinet, and the remainder were allowed to escape through the window of the room in which they were. Unchecked by the presence of parasites, which in their native habitat keep their numbers down, they rapidly multiplied and became a scourge. Fully a million of dollars has thus far been expended in the effort to exterminate them. In spite of

all the exertion which has been put forth, the insect appears to have obtained a permanent foothold in the New England States, though in recent years the destruction wrought has not been very great, owing to the incessant vigilance which is maintained by the civic authorities in repressing the nuisance.

Genus PSILURA

(1) Psilura monacha Linnæus, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 14, 8, Fig. 15, .

This is another insect which is said to have been imported from Europe, and is reputed to have found a foothold on the soil of the New World. The specimens figured on our plate are from a brood which the writer is informed by Mr. George Franck, of Brooklyn, to have been found in the eastern suburbs of that place. Mr. Franck has assured me that it is certainly already well domiciled in the region.

Genus EUPROCTIS Hübner

(1) Euproctis chrysorrhoea Linnæus, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 16, . (The Brown-tail Moth.)

This insect, like the two preceding species, is an importation from Europe. It has become domiciled in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts, and is very common in the vicinity of Magnolia, Beverly Farms, and Manchester-on-the-Sea.

Genus DOA Neumogen & Dyar

The only species of the genus, named ampla by Grote, is a native of Colorado, and ranges thence southward through Arizona to the higher mountain plateaus of Mexico. It also occurs not infrequently in northwestern Texas. It may easily be recognized with the help of the accompanying cut, which is drawn. from a specimen in the collection of the writer,

FIG. 185.-Doa ampla, 8. 1.

"Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare,
And Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair."
BYRON.-Childe Harold, Canto I.