THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 127 



species to-day points to a very mixed condition of opinions. Hence, an 

 opportunity offers where a little light may be shed, and at the same time 

 most interesting work afforded the student. 



It is not necessary to go into all the details of the breeding cage in 

 order to get a quantity of specimens in perfect condition. A knowledge 

 of food plant and a few exact dates save much of this bother. Ilydrcecia 

 larvae bore in the stems and roots of annual and perennial plants and 

 having once located in a plant attain their full growth and pupate in their 

 burrows. True, they are at all times concealed, but a little experience 

 soon £nables one to locate them, and if the pupal change has occurred, a 

 section of the plant enclosing the pupa may be removed, and can be 

 placed in some convenient box to await the emergence of the imago. 

 The waiting time will not overtax one either, being for the species here 

 mentioned, a period of from fourteen to thirty days. 



There seems a decided indifference to food plant expressed by the 

 common species ; almost any thick-stemmed plant coming in their way 

 is accepted. Possibly it is as much a case of necessity as of choice, for 

 it seems probable that oviposition must be somewhat broadcast, at least 

 when the annuals are infested. The female moth appearing in September 

 certainly could not apprehend the site of an annual of the following 

 summer, and it follows that the larvae must in a measure look out for 

 themselves. The characteristic points of the species here enumerated 

 are compiled from my notes covering half a dozen years' observation. Of 

 the other species taken in this locality my observations are less complete. 



Ilydrcecia ?iitela, Gn. — This is the most familiarly known species, by 

 reason of its wide distribution, and its larval history has been well worked 

 out by the economic entomologists. It flies willingly to light, and is by 

 far the commonest species that one may obtain from this source at Rye. 

 Its food plants are numerous. The most preferred seems to be ragweed. 

 The larva may be located by examining the plant stalk for one or more 

 small holes through which the excrements fall to the ground, and by the 

 presence of the latter around the base of the plant. The larvae work 

 upward twenty inches or more according to the size of the plant, and as 

 occasion requires make several small holes in the stalk. If full growth is 

 attained, a larger opening, one-quarter of an inch in diameter, will be 

 made for the moth to escape. This is their last act before changing. 

 Occasionally two larvae are found in a plant. It seem very prone to 

 parasitic attack. For convenience of comparison I give a description of 



