54 EXPEBIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



from March 15 to April 30; (ho si'coiid from May 1 1<> May 'JS; tho third from 

 May 2S to June 30; ami the fourdi from Jiiiic 30 to July lf». liesides alfalfa 

 the caterpillars are kuown to feed upon the 2 buffalo clovers, TrifoUum rr/lcxum 

 and T. stolonifcrum, which probably constitute its original native food plants, 

 on white clover (T. repcns), and in California on T. tridcntatum, but does not 

 appear to attack red clover. Hosackia, ground plum {Astragahis caryocarpus), 

 and .1. croiitlaria' have also been reported to bo food iilauts of this insect. The 

 buttorlly is known to oviposit on Mcdicago Jiispida, and at Indio, Cal., on July 1 

 the author found larvre feeding on sweet clover {Mclilotus alba), which they 

 seemed to prefer to a patch of alfalfa growing close by. 



Two tachinid parasites were bred by the author, namely, Euphorocera clari- 

 pennis from the larva, and Masiccra sp. from the pupa. Several specimens of 

 a chalcidid parasite {Limnerium sp.) were reared from the larvse and 1 speci- 

 men of Chalcis oi-ata from a pupa. The cotton bollworm, which is quite preva- 

 lent in the Imperial Valley and often mistaken for the alfalfa caterpillar, is 

 said to be a ravenous enemy of the caterpillar, never eating alfalfa as long as it 

 can find the larvaj or pupjc of Eurymus. A disease which destroys both the 

 pupa and larva, but more often the larva, is prevalent all over the valley at all 

 seasons of the year. 



It is stated that control measures for this pest must be based upon methods 

 of handling the crop. The author recommends that where caterpillars threaten 

 the destruction of a crop of alfalfa before the hay can possibly mature, that it 

 be mowed at once, cutting low and clean, esi>ecially along the ditch banks, 

 borders, and turnovers. By so doing a large majority of that generation of 

 caterpillars will be starved, thereby protecting the next crop as well as saving a 

 part of the one already affected. Thorough and frequent irrigations should 

 follow as soon as the crop of hay is removed from the ground. 



A California orange dog, K. R. Coolidge (Pomona Jour. Ent., 2 {1910), No. 

 4, pp. 333, 33-'f). — The author has found. Papilio zelicayn to be extremely 

 abundant about Porterville and Lindsay in the San Joaquin Valley, Cal., the 

 eggs being commonly deposited upon the lower surface of orange leaves. The 

 species is widely distributed til^^g the west coast from Mexico to Alaska and 

 eastward to Montana and Colorado. Its normal food plants include various 

 species of Umbelliferfe, in the vicinity of San Francisco Fceniculum vulgaris 

 and Camm krlloggii being most commonly fed upon. 



It is thought quite probable that this insect will become of economic impor- 

 tance. 



Scale-eating moths, W. W. Fboggatt {Agr. Gaz. N. 8. Wales, 21 {1910), No. 

 9, p. 801). — Attention is called to the fact that all the Australian species 

 belonging to the noctuid genus Thalpochares are carnivorous in the caterpillar 

 stage and feed almost exclusively upon the CoccidiE. Caterpillars of T. 

 coccophaga are known to be a great factor in their native state in devouring 

 the white scale {Eriococcus coriaceus) upon young eucalypts and more re- 

 cently have attacked the brown olive scale {Lecanium olew), particularly 

 upon citrus trees, in some districts almost freeing the trees of this pest. In 

 addition to T. pulvinariw, which feeds upon Pulvinaria masJcelli, the author 

 has bred another pearl-white species (T. duMa) from Ingilisa formmifer 

 and also from a Lecanium upon the cultivated fig. It is said that a fourth 

 species, T. pusilla, has also been described from Australia with the same habits. 



A syntomid moth imported with bananas, T. D. A. Cockebell (Canad. Ent., 

 ^2 (1910). No. 2, pp. 60, (U). — A moth collected among bananas at Boulder, 

 Colo., which is supposed to have been imported therewith from Central 

 America, is described as Cercmiidia musicola n. sp. 



