THE CANA.DIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 91 



NEW HISTORIES IN PAPAIPEMA (HYDRCECIA). 



BY HENRY BIRD, RYE, N. Y. 

 (Conti lined from Vol. XXXIV., p. ii8.) 



There are certain species here and there among our moths which are 

 possessed of a sort of will-o'-the-wisp evasiveness, and one would as soon 

 think of encountering them in nature as of finding the mythical pot of gold 

 at the rainbow's end. The causes that bring about such conditions are, of 

 course, varied, and these species often stand represented by some unique 

 type in a distant collection. Tliat the British Museum has long taken first 

 rank in sheltering many of these uniques goes without saying, hence the 

 matter of a rediscovery becomes of more than ordinary moment. Further, 

 an additional satisfaction arises, if at a second meeting with the recluse 

 the early history is exposed as well, and we find the way open to a more 

 extended acquaintance, the while getting an insight into the specific 

 standing, had that ever been questioned. So, in the rediscovery of that 

 captivating Noctuid, Papaipema ( Hydrxcia) appassionata, one of our 

 most elusive moths has again come to light, and we have the added 

 pleasure of perusing an interesting larval history. The species was 

 described by Harvey years ago, coming from London, Ontario, and his 

 single type in the British Museum has stood perhaps as the only 

 positive representative. That it should come to light again at so distant 

 a point, seems a little surprising, though other of its congeners are equally 

 dispersed, and the insight into its life habit aids in the explanation. The 

 food-plant, Sarracefiia, though widely distributed, is native to such 

 districts, and flourishes under such wild conditions that these moths, 

 whose career runs through but a few days' duration^ would be scarcely 

 met with, and we may easily conceive of the rarity of the imago. 



That the larva should have been encountered, stood more in the line 

 of probabilities, since the quaint little pitcher plant has ever been a sub- 

 ject of interest to naturalists, and of late years especially has been 

 receiving the attention of many entomologists. Already the plant has 

 furnished details among Noctuid life -histories, those pleasing little Exyria 

 larvce having had their habits chronicled by Thaxter and Riley, while the 

 current enthusiasm concerning mosquitoes and their developments has 

 brought out the fact of a species whose young seem to be propagated in 

 the waters of the pitchers exclusively. With such an amount of expert 

 scrutiny directed to Sarracenia, we might have expected appassionaia to 

 have been met before, and this very fact augurs to the restricted and 

 localized range that colonies of the species inhabit. 



