THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 105 



LARVAL HABITS OF A GOLDEN-ROD BORING PLUME. 



BY D. S. KELLICOTT, BUFFALO, N. Y. 



The Golden-rods in the vicinity of Buffalo — especially observed on 

 Squaw Island — harbor the larvae of two plume moths, one boring the 

 branches, stem and root, the other using the foliage. 1 have sent the 

 moths to Mr. Charles Fish, of Old Town, Maine, for determination ; he 

 concludes that they are both unnamed, and he will describe and name 

 them in a general paper in preparation on the American species. As a 

 somewhat more detailed account of their habits than a technical paper 

 will allow seems to be desirable, I have prepared these notes, relating 

 mostly to the borer. 



For several years successively I have observed that during the latter 

 half of August the ends of many branches and stems of the Golden-rods 

 in the locality mentioned above began to wither and finally die ; on 

 examination I have repeatedly found the cause to be a slender, dull yellow 

 moth's larva. It appears to enter the twig a few inches below the apex, 

 or, as it has grown somewhat after the destroyer began its work, pretty 

 near the end where the tissues are tender. I have not seen the eggs, but 

 should suspect their presence during first two weeks of July, at the grow- 

 ing point. It ordinarily moves outwards, pushing its dust-like fragments 

 out at the point of entrance. The larva, when first examined, August 

 22nd, was .3 of an inch long ; color light yellow, head and shield darker, 

 the oblique anal plate almost black, bearing hairs and hooks, dorsal and 

 subdorsal lines pinkish. By the middle of September it abandons the 

 branches, being then .45 of an inch in length, and bores into the stock a 

 few inches above the ground ; it makes its way down the pith into the 

 roots, well under ground, where it passes the winter. I fetched several 

 examples from the fields in January for examination; they were then .58 

 to .6 of an inch in length, lighter in color, with the longitudinal lines of 

 pink brighter than in autumn, the eighth segment conspicuously marked 

 on the back by pink. There are few hairs over their smooth bodies ; on 

 the last ring, however, there is a brown or black chitinous disc, with a 

 circle of long, brown hairs about its circumference ; in the centre of this 

 disc there is a small papilla with two stout, straight, black teeth pointing 

 rearwards. These teeth are hooked upwards in the autumn stage. The 

 hairs render the plate sensitive to touch, and help to brush fragments from 



