THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 129 



NOMOPHILA NOCTUELLA, SCHIFF. 



Order Lepidoptera. Family Pyralidina. 



by e. p. felt, cornell university, ithaca, n. y. 



This is one of the most common insects that flies throughout the 

 summer months. It is also widely distributed ; adults have been taken 

 in widely separated parts of Europe, in Algeria, Caffraria, Bengal, Pondi- 

 cherry, Brazil, and in the eastern and western parts of the United States. 

 Packard writes of the species thus:— "Such cosmopolitan forms give 

 rise to the suspicion that they are relics of a past geologic age, which is 

 borne out by the fact that quite a gap separates it from its nearest allies." 

 In spite of its wide distribution, this insect seems to be one of these com- 

 mon species that has escaped observation, very little having been pub- 

 lished on its life history. 



On the 15th of last September the writer found among the grass and 

 clover in a pasture several pale greenish larvae (Fig. 2, b) with black heads 

 and numerous black tubercles. Upon being disturbed they quickly dis- 

 appear, with a peculiar wriggling, jerking motion, under the grass; they 

 seem to move with equal facility either backward or forward. When not 

 feeding the larvae can be found under a slight web in the centre of a clump 

 of grass. Later observations show that the larvae live almost wholly upon 

 clover leaves, eating out the soft parenchyma and leaving the veins ; they 

 will eat grass if clover is not within reach, and one larva was observed to 

 seize an Aphid and devour it, though there was plenty of food within 

 reach. J. H. Leach in his " British Pyralids " gives Polygonum aviculare 

 (knot grass) as the food-plant in Scotland. As the larvae become full 

 grown they may be seen wandering around and slowly assembling under 

 chips, stones, etc., where they pupate; when in pastures, dried cow dung 

 seems to be the favourite resort. On the 21st of September both larvae 

 and pupae were abundant in these retreats ; ten pupae (Fig. 1, c, d) were 

 taken from a piece of cow dung one-fourth the size of a man's hand. 

 Before pupating the larvae spin around them a thin, white, loose cocoon. 



After remaining in the pupa state about ten days the insects emerge. 

 The adults (Fig. 1, e) are of a sombre brown and a tawny yellow colour, 

 with black markings. They have a peculiar jerky flight, and when dis- 

 turbed they fly up suddenly about four feet, and usually alight within two 

 rods of where they started. When at rest (Fig. 2, f) they are usually 

 on a leaf with the winars folded flit over the back and the antennae extend- 



