GENUS. DRYOCAMPA, _Harris in Hitchcock's Report on the Geology, &c. of
Massachusets_ (_Amherst Mass._ 1834. roy. 8vo.)
DRYOCAMPA VIRGINIENSIS. Alis cervinis, anticis puncto parvo discoidali
albo, fasciâque obliquâ pallidiori. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 7 lin.)
SYN. Phalæna (Bombyx) Virginiensis, _Drury_, _Append. vol._ 2.
Phalæna pellucida, _Abbot & Smith Ins. Georg. t._ 58?
Phalæna Astynome? _Oliv. Enc. Méth._ 5. 43. 73.
HABITAT: Virginia.
_Upper Side._ Antennæ setaceous. Head, thorax, and abdomen dark orange.
Wings faint fox-coloured; immaculate, except the anterior ones, which
have a faint light spot on each, about a third of {25}an inch from the
shoulders, and a faint line which runs from the tips to the middle of the
posterior edges.
_Under Side._ Legs, sides, thorax, and abdomen dark orange. Wings with a
faint narrow bar crossing them near their external edges, dividing the
wings into two partitions; the lower ones being of the same colour as on
the upper side, but those above the bar are of a yellowish fox-colour.
Margins of the wings entire.
It is questionable whether this figure represents the Phalæna senatoria or
pellucida of Abbot and Smith, by whom the transformations of both species
have been illustrated; Smith citing Drury's figure with doubt, as belonging
to pellucida. I have much pleasure in adopting the present well-marked
genus proposed by Dr. Thaddeus W. Harris, one of the most distinguished
American entomologists, in the appendix to the work above referred to; and
respecting which I am indebted to that gentleman for the following
communications:--"The male of Dryocampa senatoria, of Abbot and Smith, has
the basal half of the antennæ pectinated on both sides, and the apex
simple, as in Bombyx (Cerocampa, Kirby; Ceratocampa, Harris's Cat.) regalis
and imperialis; and as they are described to be in the genus Zeuzera. The
larvæ are naked, striped, rigid, with acute tubercles, and two thread-like
horns on the second segment. They devour the leaves of forest trees,
particularly oaks, and enter the earth to become pupæ. The edges of the
segments of the pupæ are denticulated. On account of these peculiar
characters, I have ventured to assign to this a new generical name; under
which will be included also Bombyces pellucida, and Stigma, Fabr., figured
in Abbot and Smith's Lepidopterous insects of Georgia; together with B.
rubicunda, F. all of which are now found to inhabit Massachusets."
In addition to the characters mentioned by Dr. Harris, the peculiar form of
the posterior wings of the males of these moths may also be noticed, and
which are of a triangular form, somewhat like those of Erycina menetas (see
vol. 3. pl. 8. fig. 3.), but extending to the extremity of the abdomen.
This genus is not far removed, in its natural affinities, from that of
Ceratocampa, (see vol. 1. pl. 9.)