274 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The perusal of life-histories in this genus naturally brings out some 

 features of distribution, which might not otherwise be obtained, one being 

 that certain localities are favoured haunts of particular species, due of 

 course to the prevalence of the natural food-plant, that may in an adjoin- 

 ing territory meet with restriction. So we have come to consider 7iecopi7ia 

 and diiovata as special Rye forms, never happening to observe them 

 elsewhere. But the food-plant oinecopina, Grote, is He/iatit/ius giganieus, 

 and is not confined to the seaboard, while closely-allied species of the 

 plant occur commonly at all points. Being plants entirely suitable for 

 Papaipema boring, all varieties have been examined repeatedly to discover 

 if necopina ever changed its diet to any other, and this has been going on 

 since the discovery of its larva in 1895. Never once in all this period 

 have we been able to offer the slightest reflection upon its epicurean taste, 

 so, when in 1906 Hellanthiis divaricatus was found bored at its base, with 

 the familiar gall-like swelling there, it was presumed that the Grote species 

 had at last been driven to the wall. These larviC are still small, and have 

 a continuous dorsal stripe which they should not possess, yet we are very 

 willing to stretch a point, being eager, in fact, to encounter larval variation. 

 We knew that the moment a pupa appeared we could settle the question, 

 for necopina has a little frontal projection that is all its own. So wiien a 

 very small chrysalis appeared undistinguished by any frontal develop- 

 ment, it was known beyond question that we were not dealing with this 

 species. The final emergence, however, produced a moth so like the 

 Grote species that it was evident the common progenitor had not been 

 very remotely removed down the line of evolution. What may have 

 caused the new larva to have gained a dorsal stripe or to lose a frontal 

 development in the pupa, should this be considered the branching species 

 (in which the author hardly concurs), opens a field far too wide for 

 discussion here. A description of the form, however, becomes absolutely 

 necessary. 



Papaipema imperinrbaia. n. sp. — Form fully congeneric. Ground 

 colour very dark, almost black, with a brown or olivaceous reflection. 

 The vestiture of head and thorax is of the one tone of ground colour, 

 though grayer than the median field of primaries. The anterior tuft is of 

 the usual prominence, though less adze-shaped than in many. The ally 

 has an elongate, conical tuft, quite individual. Primaries almost uniform 

 in colour, copiously powdered with blue-gray scales, the lines and mark- 

 ings obsolete. The subterminal space is obscurely evident, its blue tone 



