CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 135 



with yellow ; ventral parts with patches of yellow scales. Abdomen chest- 

 nut-red ; segment 1 yellow ; segments 2 and 3 chestnut-red with posterior 

 edge black ; segment 4 yellow, posterior edge chestnut ; segments 5. 6, and 

 7 chestnut-red with anterior edge yellow, narrowly so on 6 and 7 ; beneath 

 as above ; anal tuft short, blunt, chestnut-red dorsally and ventrally, yellow 

 at the sides. Front legs with coxae bright yellow ; femora, tibiae, and 

 tarsi mixed chestnut and yellow ; posterior tibiae chestnut and yellow, 

 tuft at discal end mixed with black ; tarsi stout, deep yellow, chestnut at 

 the joints. Forewing semitransparent, brownish ; costa and discal mark 

 dark brown ; between the veins on anterior parts a heavy suffusion of 

 brownish scales ; posterior part distad to discal mark vitreous and narrow, 

 vitreous streaks between the veins to a yellow patch on wing base ; narrow 

 margins and fringes pale brown ; beneath as above. Hindwing transpar- 

 ent, narrow margins and broad fringes pale brown. 



Female. — Very similar to the male. Vitreous spaces on forewing re- 

 duced. Antennae simple, heavily shaded with black centrally. 



Expanse: Male 28 to 32 mm., female 34 to 40 mm. 



Distribution. — Southeastern Texas. 



Type.—U.^.'N.U.. No. 56843. From Victoria, Tex. 



Remarks. — Described from male type, female allotype. 3 male and 3 

 female paratypes from the type locality; 4 male and 10 female paratypes 

 from San Antonio. Tex. 



Credit for the discovery of this very aberrant species is due the late 

 J. C. Mitchell. Southern Field Crop Investigations, U. S. Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, San Antonio, Tex., who submitted to the United States National 

 Museum three males and three females in 1920 together with notes on the 

 food plant and habits. Subsequent field investigations by H. B. Parks, 

 State apiculturist, and the author have added biological information 

 and have considerably extended the series of specimens. Records as 

 yet are confined to San Antonio, Tex., and its environs. The food 

 plant is Ampelopsis (Cissus) incisa, a vine v.'ith thick, succulent foliage, 

 climbing over fences and hedgerows and to considerable heights on trees. 

 The vines are thickly barked and soft, except for a central brittle woody 

 core, and rarely exceed 1 inch in diameter. Usually they are well exposed 

 on fencerows, and it is readily observed that they are subject to peculiar 

 swellings which are more or less separated and vary in number. These 

 gall-like swellings, always on the vines, not on the roots, are caused by 

 the larvae of Cissnvora ampelopsis. Examination will show many of the 

 swellings to be old or to have been deserted by the larvae, which are 

 voracious feeders and leave weakened plants to start fresh burrows in 

 healthier parts of the same or other plants. Cuttings of the vine collected 

 for purposes of rearing, if containing immature larvae, are abandoned 

 shortly by the caterpillars. If placed in one box the larvae will become 

 cannibalistic or if the container is of cardboard or soft wood they bore 



