MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 180 



but very strong web to guide them back and forth from the central 

 stalks, where they rest during the day, to the foliage, to which they return 

 in the evening. This web adds greatly to the disfigurement of the 

 hedge. After feeding for about three weeks they attain their growth 

 and proceed to enclose themselves in thin but strong cocoons of silk,, 

 among the fallen leaves and rubbish upon the surface of the ground,^ 

 and the moths from the summer broods appear in two weeks. The 

 latter expand nearly an inch and vary in color from a satiny pale brown 

 to a dull olive green, the upper wings being crossed by two or three 

 wavy, interrupted, darker lines. The fringes on both pairs of wings 

 are white, and the legs and under surface of the body are mainly white^ 

 The most characteristic feature is the incised or falcate outer margins 

 of the front wings. These moths appear in the spring about the tim& 

 that the leaves open ; a second brood emerges in July and a third in 

 September, and as they develop somewhat irregularly, their young may 

 be found in the hedges in greater or less numbers from early in May 

 until November. 



The insect is of southern origin, but is making its way rapidly 

 northward, and promises to become a most serious pest to those who 

 value the Osage orange as a hedge plant or as an ornamental tree. A& 

 yet but few natural enemies have attacked it in Missouri. I bred two 

 or three specimens of a small Ichneumon parasite late in the autumn, 

 and I found many shriveled larvfe whose vital juices had been sucked 

 by that valiant, though ill-ordered bug, Podisus spmosus; but these are 

 all the insects of this locality that have so far learned to prey upon it. 

 Thorough and repeated spraying with Paris green, London purple or 

 any of the arsenites will keep it in check, and should always be done as 

 late in the day as possible, so that the foliage may be freshly " seasoned" 

 for the worms when they come forth for their nightly feast. 



A brief account of this new pest which I prepared for the Entomo- 

 logical Club of the Ameripan Science Association, was recently pub- 

 lished in "Insect Life," headed by a fine illustration of the insect in its 

 various stages, prepared under the direction of Dr. Riley, U. S. Ento- 

 mologist, who also appended to the article a technical description of 

 the species, which is new to science. 



Several other destructive insects not yet included in works on 

 Economic Entomology came under my observation in the course of the 

 past summer, or were reported to me by different correspondents, but 

 as I have not yet ascertained all points in their history, or had opportu- 

 nity to experiment upon them with insecticides, I am not prepared ta 

 give detailed accounts of them. Mary E. Murtfeldt, 



Kirkwood, Missouri. 



