INTRODUCTION clxiii 



found abundantly feeding on Bocrhaavia. This moth is probably a natural immigrant, 

 having a very wide range outside the islands, and it is found on the small outlying 

 islands of the group, e.g. on Midway Is. It comes freely to light. 



There are four known species of Platyptilia, one of which, P. fuscicornis, is 

 probably an importation with plants. It is a very common insect, and the caterpillars, 

 which, like the pupae, vary in colour, are found on the flowers of the common weed, 

 Ageratum conyzoides. I have bred the same species with several others from flowers 

 of Lantana camara sent from Mexico. P. rhynchophora .is generally distributed 

 throughout the group, wherever Vacciniuni rcticulatum flourishes, at elevations of 

 from 2000 to 9000 ft. above sea-level. The food-plants of the other species are 

 not known. 



Orneodidae.— Only two species of Orneodes are known, and these have only 

 been taken on Kauai and in the western mountain range of Oahu, but as they are very 

 rarely met with in the perfect state they will probably be found to be more widely 

 distributed. The Oahuan species, O. objtcrgatella, was once bred in large numbers from 

 the drupes, I believe, of Plectronia. 



Gelechiidae. — Represented by 1 1 genera containing 45 species. Phthorimaea 

 opcrculella, the common pest of the tobacco plant, is of course an introduction, as also 

 is the cotton insect, Gelechia gossypiella, and the single species representing each of 

 the genera Stoeberhimis and Auiosticha are also importations, which, owing to their 

 habits, might very probably have been brought to the islands by the natives before 

 the coming of white races. Merininetria represented by a single species, only once 

 captured, is of uncertain status. Hodegia with one described species (but of which 

 others are known to occur), Ptycothrix and Catameynpsis also monotypic, and Psychra 

 with two species, are developments of Thyrcopa. The latter with 26 (and others 

 undescribed) and Aristotelia with nine absorb most of the species of the family. The 

 six genera Merimnetria, Hodegia, Ptycothrix, Catamempsis, Psychra, and Thyrcopa are 

 endemic. 



The species of Aristotelia are found amongst Gozildia, and the swellings on the 

 twigs made by one of the species are very common objects. After the escape of the 

 insects these swellings are often the home of more than one species of Proterhinus 

 and other insects. Neolelaps is bred from these galls, but is probably parasitic on the 

 beetles. The moths themselves are not very often met with in general collecting. 

 The caterpillars are parasitized by the Chalcids of the genus Eupelmus. Stoeberhimis 

 and Autosticha are both common in Honolulu gardens and elsewhere, their larvae 

 feeding on all sorts of dried or dead vegetable matter. They are attacked by the small 

 Braconid, Microdtis hawaiicola. Both come to light at night, the former in very great 

 numbers, the latter less frequently, but it is often seen at rest on the sides of houses. 



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