CACTUS-FEEDmO INSECTS AND MITES 43 



found at San Luis Potosi and at Tula in southern Tamaulipas. It 

 occurs at Oceanside and San Diego on the coast of southern California; 

 in the Tucson district of southern Arizona; around Carlsbad in New 

 Mexico; in the Big Bend country of western Texas; at Puebla and 

 Trinidad in southern Colorado; and at Cedar City in southern Utah. 

 The host plants are Cylindropuntias: Opuntia imbricata in Mexico, 

 Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado; 0. whipplei in Utah; 0. fulgida 

 in Arizona; and 0. prolifera in California. 



The moths are very similar to the species of Melitara in size, color, 

 wing pattern, and general appearance, but the palpi of A. parabates 

 are longer and more pronounced. The color varies to some extent. 

 Specimens from Texas are darker than those from California; one 

 example from Tucson, Arizona, has a dark blotch in the center of 

 the forewing. 



There would seem to be an annual generation. Larvae that hatched 

 in September were not more than one-third grown by the end of 

 April. They were full-grown in southern Utah in early July, and were 

 pupating later in the same month in southern Colorado. Moths 

 emerged at Uvalde, Texas, from field-collected material as follows: 

 early August to late September, from western Texas; mid- August to 

 early September, from southern California; late August, from Tucson, 

 Arizona. 



The eggs are laid on the spines of Opuntia, usually singly; but some- 

 times two or three, or rarely as many as five, are placed somewhat 

 irregularly on one another. The larvae are clear blue or green-blue 

 and are of solitary habit. They tunnel in the more terminal segments; 

 except for a dark spot around the entrance hole, a slight yellowing 

 of the affected segments, or a swollen appearance of the segment in 

 the case of 0. prolifera, there is little indication of their presence. The 

 attacked segments are not destroyed. Even where the larvae are 

 numerous, the damage to the plant is inconsiderable. When full 

 grown, the larva cuts a round exit hole and spins, among the debris 

 on the ground, a stout cocoon resembling that of Melitara dentata. 

 Parasites. — Pupae from California were severely attacked by the 

 tachinid Clausicella floridensis, the ichneumon Chelonus electus, and the 

 chalcid Brachymeiia {Pseudobrachymeria) pedalis. 



Alberada holochlora (Dyar) 



Very litde is known regarding this species. Several dark-blue solitary 

 larvae were collected in the terminal segments of the slender Cylin- 

 dropuntia 0. leptocaulis at Uvalde, Texas, in early August 1925. They 

 immediately issued from the segments, spun small white cocoons of 



