96 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Pupa. — Length, 9 mm. Colour bright green with two white stripes on 

 the dorsum, extending from the head to the tip of tlie abdomen. 



Cocoon. — Very thin, loose and white. 



NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF ARGYRIA NIVALIS, DRURY 



RY E. PORTER FELT, B. S., FORT PLAIN, N. Y. 



This moth was rather common at Ithaca, New York, in 1892 and 1893. 

 The moths fly in the afternoon and early evening of the latter part of 

 June and most of July. They are attracted to lights to some extent, but 

 those taken are mostly males. The eggs are laid in clusters upon blades 

 of grass. They are firmly attached to the leaf, and the five or six in a 

 cluster over-lap more or less. 



The eggs hatch in ten or twelve days. The young larvfe were placed 

 in a cage containing grass, clover and considerable moss. They soon 

 disappeared, and subsequent observation proved they had constructed 

 cylindrical nests in the moss The nests were composed of bits of moss 

 and were smoothly lined with silk. Some of the nests were perpendi- 

 cular, others were horizontal. The larvae devoured all the moss before 

 any perceptible amount of grass was eaten. After the grass was eaten 

 they began on the clover, and soon not a green thing was left in the cage. 



When about a month old the larvae are 2. cm. long, and their nests are 



three to four centimetres long. At this time the nests are mostly above 



the surface of the ground. There seem to be no indications of more 



than one generation a year. They probably hibernate 



^^^^^ ill their nests as larvae, and in the spring complete the 



^l^^^^>^^^ round of life much as do some species of Crambus. 



^^^^^^^^m E,gg. — Yellowish-white, flattened, oval, 1.2 mm. by 



^^^^^^^^^^^.87 mm. Shell finely reticulated. (Fig. 8.) 



i^^Vw^^^^^ Larva, first stage. — Head diameter, .33- mm. ; body 



^djt^^^^S^^^ diameter, .27 mm.; length, 1.65 mm. Head and thoracic 



^^^i^^^^^M shield jet black. Body a straw colour with a broad 



^^^Tw;^^^^ transverse carmine stripe on the fifth and seventh seg- 



^^^^^^^ ments. Spots of the same colour occur on the eleventh 



and twelfth segments, and also just above each pair of 



"^ legs. Five pairs of prolegs, occurring on the seventh 



'^pyie^TfrfftireniSed! ^o tenth and thirteenth segments inclusive. 



