80 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 256 



and new growth of Opuntia fulgida. During the following season at 

 Tucson larvae were abundant in late May and early June, and col- 

 lected material produced one adult before the end of June. On June 

 18, several moths were captured at light, while on July 9, following 

 recent rains, young larvae were attacking the young growth of 0. 

 fulgida in one area near Tucson, It is considered that these larvae 

 would have represented the progeny of moths on the wing on June 18. 

 One final record of a short life cycle in Arizona can be quoted. From 

 larvae, which were thought to be second generation material, collected 

 at Tucson in July 1924, one moth emerged at Uvalde, Texas, in 

 August. 



MIMORISTA Warren 



This pyraustid genus, containing at least three species, appears to 

 be a true cactus segregate with a distribution extending from the 

 United States to Argentina. The larvae live either internally or ex- 

 ternally on the segments of prickly-pear and of other cacti. 



Mimorista flavidissimalis (Grote) 



The range of this insect embraces the West Indies and the coastal 

 and subcoastal portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. 

 Its distribution may include Central America, since the form recorded 

 on page 82 as Mimorista sp. may well prove to be this insect. 



In the Board's investigations it was found very freely in Cuba, Haiti, 

 Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, and more sparingly in Jamaica. 

 On the mainland it extends from Tampico, Mexico, northward 

 through the State of Tamaulipas. In Texas it is abundant around 

 Brownsville and ranges inland in a northwesterly direction to Uvalde 

 and northward along the gulf coast to Victoria, but has not been 

 observed in the Galveston district. Although it is common in the 

 West Indies, extensive surveys have not revealed its presence in Florida. 



In Texas and Tamaulipas the shrub pear, Opuntia lindheimeri, which 

 is the dominant prickly pear of these regions, is the usual host plant; 

 on rare occasions larvae have been observed on the narrow-jointed 

 Cylindropuntia 0. leptocaulis. In the West Indies prickly pears seemed 

 to be attacked indiscriminately, and recorded food plants included 

 the shrub pear, 0. dillenii, and the three brittle-jointed relations, 

 0. tuna, 0. antillana, and 0. jamaicensis, as well as the Cylindropuntia 

 0. caribaea. 



The adult has a wing expanse of three-quarters of an inch; the wings 

 are bright yellow with three or four transverse rows of dark but rather 

 faint markings. Sometimes, particularly in late autumn, the markings 

 are much larger and darker, and the wings are conspicuously mottled. 



