358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.86 



mon. The main host plant was an Opuntia closely related to 0. vul- 

 garis Miller ( = (9. monacantha"R.2i'V} ovih) ^ih^ sole indigenous prickly- 

 pear located in these states; the larvae were encountered in the spine- 

 less O. -ficus-indica in garden plots. Mr. Mundell was unable to rear 

 adults, but considered that the larvae and eggs were not typical c(Ui- 

 tomm. I think there can be little doubt that Neopyralis ronnai is 

 the CactoUastis of southern Brazil, which is either G. cactorum or an 

 allied form." 



Until the Brazilian form can be reared or Brethes's types exam- 

 ined, ronnai must remain as an unrecognized Cactohlustis. 



Type. — ^Location unknown. 



Type locality. — Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 



Food plant. — "Spineless cactus." 



3. CACTOBLASTIS DODDI, new Bpccies 



Plates 26, 38; Figtjbes 10, 49-49a 



CactoUastis tucyrus Dodd (not Dyar), Council for Scientific and Industrial 

 Research, Australia. Bull. 34, p. 30, 1927. 



Male. — Similar to that of cactorum except as follows : Wliite dust- 

 ing on fore wing less contrasted, sparser; general color darker, de- 

 cidedly grayish fuscous in specimens from Tucuman; dentations of 

 subterminal line of fore wing acute and their ends pointed; black dots 

 along termen very faintly indicated, normally altogether absent. 



Alar expanse, 31-38 mm. 



Genitalia similar to those of cactorum., differing chiefly in the 

 shorter cleft between the prongs at apex of gnathos (fig. 10). This 

 character, however, is subject to some individual variation, and 

 should be used with discretion. 



Female. — Similar in color to the male except that the hind wings 

 are smoky fuscous throughout. Similar to the female of hucyrus 

 except for the absence of terminal black dots on fore wing. 



Alar expanse, 35-41 mm. 



Genitalia (figs. 49-49a) with scobinations of bursa somewhat more 

 uniformly distributed than in other species of Cactoblastis, not an 

 altogether reliable or satisfactory character in this genus. 



Type and paratypes. — U.S.N.M. no. 52749. Paratypes also sent to 

 Mr. Dodd. 



Type locality. — Tapia, Tucuman, Argentina. 



Food plants. — Opuntia {Platypunfia) sidphurea G. Don, Opuntia 

 {Platypuntia) ficus-indica (Linnaeus). 



Remarks. — Described from male type, three male and four female 

 paratypes from the type locality, reared in October 1936 by R. C. 

 Mundell from larvae feeding in O. sulphurea; six males and eight 



