^THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 43 



design approaches sciata and impectiniosa most nearly. Expanse, 34-36 

 mm. Dates of emergence, Aug. 23 to Sept. 28. 



Habitat. — Buffalo, New York City, N. Y.; Montreal, Que. 

 Eighteen examples furnish the description. A male and female 

 cotype are with Mr. Moeser, and a male type and female cotype are with 

 the writer. Moeseri^ in its freshness, is very distinct from any well-known 

 species. It is constant in colour and size, the only variation in the series 

 being in the outward curve of the postmedial line where passing the 

 reniform, which in one specimen angles inward at this point, deflecting the 

 usual true sweep, and some specimens are a little yellower. 



Nepheleptena Dyar is very close in some respects, but differs in the 

 angle that the white spots bear to the costa. From a cotype sent to the 

 National Museum Dr. Dyar inclines to concur in its distinctness. 

 Unfortunately, fiepheleptena is not represented by a very bright example 

 in the unique type. 



The writer has seen a great deal, first and last, of the species 

 caiaphracta, as will anyone who investigates Papaipema life-histories. It 

 is the one general feeder, the only thorough plebian, the great ubiquitous 

 nuisance. Its list of food-plants include about everything the other species 

 eat, so one cannot help gathering them in along with desiderata, as well 

 as a host of others. As the seeker in these larval investigations is always 

 on the alert to detect some new food-plant being bored, the work of this 

 species is constantly brought to the front and deplored, after the moment 

 of hope that sprung from some new observation. Further than that, the 

 larvae change to pupae within their borings, which adds to the flame, for 

 one may happen on the pupae in some new and likely food-plant, only to 

 be disappointed later, after a long wait, for the moths are tardy in 

 emerging. 



Our fingers seem still to tingle from the great box of Nettle-roots 

 which were once painfully gathered in, thinking the small pupse contained 

 therein would surely prove a novelty. Hope continued to mount until 

 after the first of October, in this instance before the first caiaphracta 

 appeared^ when the disappointment was correspondingly keen. Which 

 is but one instance out of a great many. But there is a redeeming feature, 

 its larva can be easily identified, for there is none other just like it, and 

 upon a glance it may be returned to its newest food-plant. Further, if the 

 plant is large and the stage late, one may detect its work by the large 

 amount of frass thrown off, for it is a great gourmand, and no false hopes 

 need be entertained for a moment. Yet it is not a common species in 



