THE GREENHOUSE LEAF-TYER.* 



Pfilyetaenia rulnijalis Guenec.f 



Order Lepidopteka ; family Pykaustidje. 



Diirin<2: the siuniner of 1898 this insect was first noticed in tlie 

 greenhouses of tlie Ilorticultiiral Division of this Station, and ever 

 since, both summer and winter, it lias been tlie most troublesome 

 and annoying pest that ever infested the houses. It is apparently 

 an old offender in greenhouses, for it was reported as very destruc- 

 tive on Long Island as early as 1888, and tlien Riley stated that it 

 '' had long been known to feed upon various greenhouse plants " 

 (Insect Life, IL, 277). Kine years later Johnson found the insect 

 doing much injury to young tobacco plants in a hot bed in Mary- 

 land. In 1898 Smith recorded it as eatino; carnation cuttino-s in 

 ]Sew Jersey (An. Rept. Exp. Sta. for 1898, p. 391), and the next 

 year Galloway treats it as a violet pest (Commercial Yiolet Culture, 

 p. 211-15). In 1899 it also did much damage to roses in a Cana- 

 dian greenhouse (Fletcher's Kept, for 1899, p. 179-180), while Dr. 

 Howard wrote in January, 1900, that he " had received quite a 

 number of complaints in regard to its injuries in greenhouses 

 througliout the country." He also states that the insect is " widely 

 distributed from Canada to Florida and from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific." 



* This discussion is partly an abstract of a thesis by Franklin Sherman, Jr., 

 presented to the Faculty of the College of Agriculture of Cornell University for 

 the degree of B. S. A. in 1900. Ail of the illustrations arc our own. 



f Scientists differ regarding the name of this insect, Feruald considers it the 

 same as the European lervngalis, but Hampson has recently (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 London, 1899, p. 242) concluded that our American insect is a distinct species, as 

 first described by Guenee in 1854, with Lederer's ^J/%??rt?u (1863) and Grote's liar- 

 veyaiia (1877) as synonyms A few specimens of the European ferrugalis from 

 Spain which we have seen are more ferruginous in color tlian our American 

 form, but our larvae agree quite closely in all stages with Buckler's descriptions 

 (Ent: Mo. Mag. 1878, vol. xiv., p. 200-204) of ferrugalis larvae. 

 12 177 



