Cly dTanabian Entomologist. 



VOL. XIV. LONDON, ONT., SEPTEMBER, 1882. No. 9 



IS PAEDISCA SCUDDERIANA A GALL-MAKER? 



BY U. S. KELLICOTT, BUFFALO, N. Y. 



A gall from a Golden-rod, out of which a moth of this species has 

 escaped, is figured in Second Report Insects of Missouri, page 134. In 

 the accompanying description the author says : " There are some doubts 

 in my mind as to whether it is a real gall-maker, or an inquiline, or an 

 intruder on my true Solidago gall-maker (Gelechia ^allcesolidaginis )." " My 

 reasons for thinking this insect an intruder are, first, because if it were a 

 true gall-maker, we should naturally expect to find its gall more common ; 

 second, because on several occasions I have found within the Gelechia 

 galls a pale worm very different from the true gray gall-making larva." In 

 the Can. Ent., x., 202, I asserted, perhaps too abruptly, that this moth is 

 not an intruder, but the cause of the gall in which it resides during the 

 larval and pupal states. In the paper cited I gave my reasons for this 

 conclusion, reasons which I considered sufficient, namely : that it was 

 very abundant about Buffalo, that I had followed the larvse in the galls 

 from soon after hatching and soon after they had pierced the stem until 

 final transformation, and that their gall habits were somewhat character- 

 istic. In Bulletin No. 6 of the United States Entomological Commission, 

 page 57, referring to this species (under the name Euryptychia salig?ieana 

 Clem.), Mr. Riley says : " From comparison of female specimens I am 

 led to believe that this is the same species that is commonly known in 

 Europe as Spilonota roborana Schifif. . . . The insect in Europe is 

 known to feed on the leaf-buds of the rose. I have abundant proof that 

 in this country it is not a gall-maker, but as was inferred in the Report, an 

 inquiline. I have found its larva feeding upon the flowers as well as amid 

 the terminal leaves of the Golden-rod, and I have also found it in other 

 galls." The above statements have led me to again examine the matter, 

 and inasmuch as I cannot find evidence in support of the writer's views, 

 but rather to confirm my own, I desire to record my observations. 



This year I noted that the Gelechia galls were of full size before P. 

 Scudderiana escaped from the pupa, and G. galliesolidaginis escaped from 



