84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 57. 



Family PYRALIDAE. 

 Subfamily Piiycitinae. 



DASYPYGA ALTERNOSQUAMELLA Raganot. 



Plate 7, fig. 41; plate 11, figs. 67, G8, 71, 74; plate 13, figs. 80, 81. 

 Dasypyga alternosquamella Raganot, Dyar, List N. Amer. Lep., No. 4721. 

 This species is an important enemy of the mistletoe iRazoumofshja 

 cryptopoda) on pine and spruce in Oregon and Colorado. Several 

 moths were reared from larvae collected from May until late in Sep- 

 tember at Williams Canyon, Monument, and Larkspur, Colorado, and 

 Ashland, Oregon (Hopk. U. S. Nos. 12420m, 12415, 13942g-2, and 

 12515a). According to Mr. Miller's notes the larvae feed singly and 

 externally, and while usually very abundant are easily overlooked on 

 account of their protective coloration. The color of the individual 

 larvae varies in harmony with the color of the individual batches of 

 mdstletoe on which they feed. There appeaars to be one generation 

 a year, the species overwintering as pupa in tiie ground. Moths 

 reared at the Falls Church, Virginia, station issued all through May 

 and in early June. It is probable that in nature the feeding period is 

 comparatively sliort (about a month) and that the various broods 

 issue continuously throughout the summer, since the larvae of one 

 lot collected by Mr. P. D. Sergent at Ashland, Oregon, May 27, 1914, 

 had all pupated by June 6tii of the same year, while from the Colo- 

 rado points mentioned above, larvae in various stages of development 

 were received as late as September 23. None of the larvae received 

 at the Eastern Station fed long after being received and from none of 

 the lots were adults reared until the year following. 



D. alternosquamella is commonly associated with GelecMa natalis 

 described elsevv^here in this paper, the larvae of l-oth being equally 

 numerous on the mistletoe. The absence of seta III on the prothorax 

 as well as the enlarged and curiously chitinized Ila of the mesothorax 

 and III on the 8th abdominal segment of alternosquamella readily 

 distinguishes it from the Gclechiid. As nothing has been previously 

 recorded of its immature stages and as it is the type and sole species 

 of the genus Dasypyga a full description of its larva and pupa is 

 appended. 



General characters— Larva.~(]}\. 7, fig. 41; pi. 11, figs. 67, 68, 71, 

 74). Cylindrical ; slender. Legs and prolcgs normal. Crochets evenly 

 biordinal and in a complete circle, the outer series of hooks very short, 

 less than one-fourth the longer series. No anal fork. Prothoracic 

 shield moderately broad, not extending to anterior margin of the seg- 

 ment, divided by a rather broad, median, longitudinal line. Spiracles 

 moderately large, circular in outline; those on prothorax and 8th 

 abdominal segment twice the size of those on abdominal segm.ents 



