REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 189 



not so large in this country." This agrees with what I have myself seen. In fact, of a 

 great many pods examined, I have never seen one which opened of itself ; but in all 

 cases, the larva has eaten a clean, round hole through the side of the pod, and the quan- 

 tity of excrement and web is small. 



In reply to a letter of inquiry, the following has been received from Professor C. H. 

 Fernald, the eminent microlepidopterist, of Amherst, Mass., : — " I would say that I 

 have never seen, nor heard of Grapholitha pisana, Gn., (more properly named Semasia 

 nebritana, Treits.) in this country, nor of any similar insect attacking pease." 



The species which attacks our Canadian pease appears to be widely distributed, 

 and probably attacks also the seeds of other Leguminosse. The extent of the in- 

 jury in part of the seed-pea growing districts of Ontario is referred to in the 

 extracts given below. The injury to pease was noticed also, west of Toronto, in Essex 

 county, about Hamilton and London ; also in several places in the province of Que- 

 bec, in Nova Scotia, very bad in some parts in New Brunswick and in Prince Edward 

 Island. In collecting seeds of native plants for the Earm museum, I found that the 

 seeds of Lathyrus ocholeucus and L. palustris at East Templeton, Que., were almost en- 

 tirely destroyed in every pod examined ; likewise at Ottawa the seeds of the new fod- 

 der plant Lathyrus sylvestris-Wagneri on this farm and Vicia cracca growing wild 

 were seriously attacked. 



As far as I can judge from the observations of the past year, the egg is probably 

 laid upon the young forming pods, either before or soon after the flowers have fallen, 

 but occasionally later, as Mr. Cowdry found quite small caterpillars on July 27, when 

 most of the larvse were full-grown. The egg is laid on the outside of the pod, and the 

 young caterpillar eats its way into it. At that .time, it is of course very small, and 

 the hole is soon obliterated by the natural growth of the pod. 



The caterpillar then begins to feed upon one of the seeds, generally at the upper 

 end. Sometimes, only one pea is injured, but frequently two or three are more or less 

 eaten. The caterpillar having attained full growth about the last week in July, gnaws 

 a small round hole through the pod, from which it falls to the ground, and burrowing a 

 short distance into the earth, spins a thin but close oval cocoon of white silk, thickly 

 covered outside with grains of earth, in which it remains torpid until the following 

 spring. It then changes to the chrysalis, and the perfect moth appears about the time 

 the peas are in flower. There is only one brood in the season. The following extracts 

 from letters by Mr. N. H. Cowdry, who is a careful observer and an experienced 

 entomologist, give many valuable data concerning the life history of the insect : — 



"June 9, 1894. — I send you by to-day's mail two pea plants, each with one pod 

 tied up inclosing the caterpillar. Mr. Keeney, of Le Roy, NY., and I took a drive in 

 the country last Saturday and looked over plenty of material, but only found the speci- 

 mens sent you. It is likely, therefore, that they have not damaged the early varieties 

 of pease this year to much extent, or the excessive rain may have diminished their num- 

 bers." 



" July 17. — So far, I have not yet found the moth, but suspect that it may be iden- 

 tical with two specimens which I was unable to catch. They were about a third of 

 an inch long, whitish with brown markings. Almost all the pease infested, were full 

 sized, never very young and only partially matured. Often, however, the small pea at 

 one end of the pod in almost matured pods would be damaged, but only those very 

 small ones which would not mature. I could never find any trace of the caterpillar in 

 very immature pods, only in those in which the pease were nearly or quite matured. So 

 far, I have only examined crops of Extra Early, Alaska and American Wonder, all of 

 which will be harvested this week. . 



" About when or where the egg is laid, I can give you no information, but it ap-* 

 pears to me that the larva generally begins its work near the upper end of the pea. 

 Erom the very immature larvse that I have observed in nearly mature pease, I think it 

 very unlikely that the egg is deposited on the flower, and I have never been able to find 

 any trace of the passage of the caterpillar through the pod. It is very probable that 

 numbers of the pupse can be found under the bunches of pea straw in the fields." 



"July 27. — I opened several pods in the field and noticed as before that no very 

 immature pods were attacked. The small abortive pease in the green, partially matured 



