March. 1922.] Miscellaneous Notes. 71 



and their bodies were so numerous around the trunks of the previously 

 defoHated trees that a pile two feet across and a foot high was raked 

 from around a single tree. The trees which were defoliated in 1919 

 had, in August, 1920, a very sparse crop of new, short, light green 

 needles, and these will probably be destroyed in the fall by the new 

 generation of caterpillars which were emerging September i, 1920. A 

 second defoliation will undoubtedly kill the trees either of itself or 

 indirectly by so weakening them that Dcndroctonus hrevicomis will 

 enter. 



The moths appear to be spreading from this center, as many indi- 

 viduals were picked up at Chiloquin and Klamath Falls, ^ where they 

 had probably been attracted to the arc lights. A few individual speci- 

 mens were found, by Mr. J. C. Patterson, as far west as Jenny Creek 

 in Jackson County. 



Control : 



Undoubtedly there are natural enemies of this moth present, but 

 the limited time spent in the locality precluded the possibility of ascer- 

 taining what parasites were there and to what extent they existed. 

 The larvDS would undoubtedly succumb to any of the ordinary poison 

 sprays, but the cost of spraying large forest trees would be enormous 

 and only justifiable as a cooperative proposition to prevent rhe spread 

 of the moth to adjacent territory. The limited area in which they now 

 occur might well be cleaned up at a moderate cost, thus making sure 

 that the surrounding territory would be protected for some time to 

 come. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



The Position of the Dioptidae (Lepidoptera) : In my paper in 

 Psyche (23: 191) I note the Dioptidae as lacking a tympanum. More 

 careful study shows the tympanum is present, though very small and 

 unspecialized in the typical forms, so that the family falls naturally at 

 the foot of the series leading up to the Notodontidse, Noctuidse and 

 Arctiidse, having an upright &gg, a larva with uniordinal hooks and 

 metathoracic tympanum; in fact, at present the family is not really 

 distinguished from the Notodontidae in any very tangible way. The 



1 About 40 miles from the center of infestation. 



