64 BULLETIN 190, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



pye-weed, Eupatorium purpureum, recorded by H. Edwards as a host. 

 The insect is locally common and appears to live in colonies, often widely 

 separated, regardless of an abundance of the food plant. The moths in 

 visiting flowers fly long distances, but in the morning and late in the 

 afternoon they can be found resting on foliage about their breeding places. 

 They emerge from late in July through August and September. The 

 eggs are laid singly or in small numbers attached to leaves or dropped at 

 the base of the food plant. The young larvae enter growing stems, bore 

 down to the roots, where they winter in various stages of development,' 

 and resume feeding during spring and early summer. Before pupation 

 stems of the previous year's growth again are entered, girdled, and caused 

 to break off several inches above ground. For purposes of rearing, these 

 stem stumps containing pupae in midsummer can be collected easily, com- 

 pared to the labor of digging out the deep-rooted plants. Many of the 

 aegeriid species that are root borers in herbaceous plants have similar 

 habits. 



Fine series of bassiformis have been obtained by rearing on Long Island, 

 Staten Island, and in the vicinity of New York City ; also near Pittsburgh, 

 Pa., by Henry Engel. Records of captures in general cover the Atlantic 

 Coast and Midwestern States, the specimens showing no variation, with 

 one striking exception, a form with opaque or nearly opaque forewings 

 that is represented only by the female. In Illinois this form occurs in 

 mixed association, but in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas it replaces typical 

 females of bassiformis. All the males run true to type and the females 

 differ only in coloration, not in structure. Good series, definitely connect- 

 ing the sexes, have been collected in the region of Manhattan, Kans. 

 (R. P. Painter). In Ellsworth County, Kans., a heavy infestation was 

 noted in Vemonia crinita, indicating an earlier season of emergence, June 

 and July. Records from Austin and College Station, Tex., are dated as 

 early as April and May. Beutenmiiller doubtfully considered this form 

 as the female of aureopurpurea Hy. Edwards, a species from Texas, con- 

 generic but much smaller and specifically distinct, which is still known 

 only from two male types described in 1880. Available males associated 

 with such females perfectly match the type of bolli Hy. Edwards, from 

 Texas, described from a single male (which is in the United States 

 National Museum) and placed by Beutenmiiller as a synonym of bassi- 

 formis. Accordingly, the name bolli is here restored and applied to this 

 female color form of bassiformis. 



Records in United States National Museum : Old specimens without 

 locality and date from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, 

 Texas. Dated records. Long Island, N. Y. (Jamaica, Newton, Flushing), 

 reared males and females, August-September 1924 (Engelhardt) ; Staten 

 Island, reared males and females, August 1926 (W. T. Davis and Engel- 

 hardt) ; Bronx River, N. Y., Botanical Garden, males and females, July, 



