June, 1895.] PACKARD. On LARV/E OF HEPIALID/E. 69 except in the absence of the definite secondary set?e of the latter. The difference is mainly one of degree. In Eudeittnea the sets have the normal arrangement for the Noctuina, but there are no secondary hairs anywhere above the base of the leg. The seta associated with iii in Platypteryx and Fakaria is therefore wanting here. ON THE LARVAE OF THE HEPIALID^E. PLATES III AND IV. By A. S. Packard. Of the form and structure of the larva of this family very little is known. A brief notice of the egg of Hepialus argenteomaculatus ; by P. H. Gosse, appeared in his " Canadian Naturalist " (p. 248, 1840). In 1888 Prof. D. S. Kellicott published in Entomologica Americana (iv. p. 153) notes on the larva, which he obtained in abundance in Central New York, from the roots and stems of Alnus ' incana, and showed that the larva probably requires three years to complete its growth. He received the pupa, which disclosed the moth June 2d. In commenting on his paper, Prof. J. B. Smith stated his belief that it lived in the oak, willow and poplar. In the following year Prof. Kellicott described the mature larva and the pupa, adding further details as to its habits. The eggs are laid the first week in June; the caterpillars live for two years in the roots, and as the third year advances they work upward more or less into the stems ; in the spring of the third year they bore out to the sur-face, partially or loosely plug the opening with chips and transform ; pupation occurs about May 1 (in Oswego County, N. Y.), the moths emerging a month later. Mr. Kellicott writes me that he did not pre-serve either the larva or pupa, of which good figures are much needed. The eggs were not described. In his note on the habits of Hepialus thule (Can. Ent. Vol. xxv, Dec. 1893, p. 297), Mr. H. H. Lyman describes its eggs, of which the enormous number of 2,151 were laid, and this seems to be the first account which we have of any eggs of this family, the works of Euro-pean authors being apparently defective as regards the habits and life-history of the species of this group. The eggs are said to be " even, oval, slightly flattened on the lower side, perfectly smooth, but dull,
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