12 Journal New York Entomological Suciety. [Voi. ix. 



LIFE-HISTORY OF PLATYSENTA VIDENS GUEN. 



Kv Orro Seifert. 



Southward from Astoria, New York to the railroad and eastward 

 to the little village of Woodside, spreads a pasture-like tract of land, 

 interrupted by sand pits and boggy depressions, the latter being cov- 

 ered a few months in the year by rank vegetation. Every tree and 

 bush of this once wooded region has been removed and almost noth- 

 ing is left but the sandy soil, covered with a low growth of frugal 

 grasses. Mortified nature, to relieve the monotonous landscape, has 

 compassionately ornamented this desert with some of its hardiest 

 plants. Euthamia graim'/iifolia, E. caroliniana, different species of 

 Aster and Linaria linaria, in small fields and patches, cover the 

 ground. Most abundant are the two species of Euthamia and, as 

 these are shunned by cattle, their dense yellow flower clusters and 

 emerald green foliage last until late in October. The smaller one, E. 

 caroliniana, reaches an average height of twelve inches. The dry, 

 brown stems of the previous season mostly persist, forming with the 

 young shoots (both Euthamia are perennial by rootstocks) low, 

 spreading patches. These spots are the favorite habitat of the Platy- 

 senta larvge. Here they find a shelter against the parching rays of 

 the sun, protection against rain and a comparatively safe place for 

 their final transformations. The oval cocoons or earth cells are formed 

 in the sandy soil near or on the surface, supported and screened by 

 the superficial roots of the food-plant. Only in a few cases larvae 

 were found feeding on species of Solidago, while hundreds might 

 have been collected without trouble within these patches of Euthamia. 



The moth oi Platysenta videtis appears in three generations. The 

 first leaves its cocoon late in May, finishing its course of life early in 

 July, while larvae of the last brood may be found till the middle of 

 October. The caterpillars are most abundant from August till Oc- 

 tober. They do not feed on the flower clusters, only on the leaves. 

 During the day time they rest on the stems and leaves of the food 

 plant, stretched closely to their resting places, the small, flat head, ex- 

 tended forward and the well-developed anal legs spreading and pro- 

 jecting posteriorly. The normal color of the fully grown larva 

 is the rather pale, dull green of the Euthamia leaf, with fine dor- 



