828 Journal of Agricultural Research voi.xx.No. h 



of 5 to 8 va the area normally occupied by seta VI. The body tubercles 

 are somewhat produced, especially on the pro thorax and tenth abdominal 

 segment, and the hairs themselves are swollen and bulbous. In addition 

 to the setae there are on all except the first thoracic and the last abdominal 

 segments several fingerlike projections from the skin. On the abdomen 

 these arise back of setse I, II, III, IV, and V from the base of their tuber- 

 cles and in the area back of the spiracle and seta group IV-V. The 

 prothorax is somewhat produced dorsally, and the head is capable of 

 retraction under the cover of this rooflike projection. 



In the pupa the venter of the eighth, ninth, and tenth segments is 

 deeply concave with the lateral edges fringed by rather short flexible 

 setae. The ventral edge of the tenth segment and the anterior margins 

 of the concavity are also armed with clusters of slender, hooked hairs. 

 The caudal end is sharply pointed, but there is no distinct cremaster. 



The larva is an external feeder, and the pupal period is very short. 

 Larvae collected by Diven from April 7 to 14, 1919, produced moths as 

 early as the ninteenth of the same month. 



FAMILY PYRALIDAK 



SUBFAMILY THYRIDINAE 



MESKEA DYSPTERARIA GROTE 



(PL. ioi, E, F; 104, B; 109, A-E) 



Meskea dyspteraria Grote, 1877, in Canad. Ent., v. 9, p. 115. 

 Meskea dyspteraria Dyar, 1903, List North Amer. Lep., no. 4139. 



This species was described by Grote from a single female collected in 

 Bastrop County, Tex. Up to the present it has been rare in collec- 

 tions, Grote's type and a male from the Riley collection being the only 

 representatives in the United States National Museum. Nothing was 

 known of its larval habits or life history. We succeeded in rearing a large 

 series of the moths and found their larvae rather abundant though locally 

 distributed. The larvae mine the stems of several malvaceous plants, 

 forming a conspicuous, elongate gall. The species seems to favor Malva- 

 viscus and Abutilon; but occasional larvae were found in galls on Kostel- 

 elzkyasp. (Anahuac, Tex., Aug. 13-14, 1918, More and Diven, collectors). 

 The species overwinters as larvae in the gallery, pupating in the spring and 

 producing moths during April and May. From larvae collected in Mal- 

 vaviscus drummondii at Wallisville, Tex., September 3, 191 8 (Hanson, 

 Diven, and Heinrich), October 28, 191 8 (Hunter, Busck, and Johnson), 

 and November 5, 191 8 (Barber, More, and Heinrich) moths were reared 

 during May 9 to 25, 191 9; in M. drummondii taken along the San Jacinto 

 River near Crosby, Tex. (Hanson), November 6, 191 8, moths issued May 

 4 to 10, 1 91 8. Larvae taken in Abutilon bcrlandieri, at Brownsville, 

 Tex., December 31, 1918, and in A. incanum at Barreta, Tex., January 5, 



