ENTOMOLOCUCAL SOOIErY OF ONTARIO. t5 



mouth of the pitcher is a wide expanded hood with stiff bristles pointing down towards 

 the openinc;, and any insect settling upon this expansion is unconsciously directed toward 

 the danger lying beneath, by finding it, when attempting to walk, much easier to go in 

 the direction of the bristles. The orifice of the pitcher is highly polished and difficult for 

 most insects to find a footing upon ; experience shows that a great many fall into the trap. 

 Once inside, they are met with new dangers ; the lower third of the pitcher is filled with 

 water, and should they succeed in crawling out of this, the upper portion of the tubes 

 down to the swollen part is thickly beset with fine bristles pointing downward, so that it 

 is almost impossible for luckless captives to regain their liberty. There are, however, a 

 few kinds of insects which are able to brave these dangers with impunity. One of these 

 is a large flesh fly, of which the white maggots may generally be found during the summer 

 revelling in the decomposing remains of other insects at, the bottom of the pitcher. 

 When full-grown, they bore their way out through the walls of the leaf and pupate in the 

 surrounding moss. Another species is the pretty little moth referred to above, of which 

 I have studied a few specimens every summer for the last three years. 



My first acquaintance with this insect was upon finding the moth inside a pitcher in 

 June, 1890, Since that time I have collected similarly located larvpe of various sizes and 

 the cocoons. I have also bred the larvae from after the third moult in confinement. 



Mr. Roland Thaxter says : " The larvae of Exyra Rolandiana may be found in the 

 smaller leaves of Sarracenia purpurea in this vicinity (Newton, Mass.) as soon as the snow 

 is off the ground early in spring, apparently having moulted two or three times ; they are 

 then of a dull reddish brown and about 6 mm. long. As soon as the weather grows 

 warmer, they increase in size rapidly, and, having eaten the leaf in which they have hiber 

 nated, betake themselves to the larger leaves, which they begin to eat after having made a 

 hole near the base to let the water out and after having spun a close web over the mouth. 

 The larva reaches its full growth about the first of May and later, when it is about 20mm. 

 long, of a dull carmine or brown color, lighter, sometimes white, between the segments. 

 The cocoon is spun in the leaf of loose white silk, the larva changing to a pupa a few days 

 after spinning. The imago appears early in June. There is a good deal of variation in 

 the color of the females, some being much brighter than others. The following are the 

 extreme measurements of both sexes : males, 26-20mm., females 21-16mm. In its habits 

 it resembles E. semicrocea, generally backing down towards the bottom of the leaf when 

 disturbed, and using its -wings in ascending. I notice that the frenulum at the base of the 

 wings is very long in this species, and, as well as I could see, the moth seems to use it , 

 when crawling up the leaf. This species is very delicate and difficult to rear." 



I have never found the larva at Ottawa before the beginning of June, and they had 

 most of them at that time moved to a new leaf, but their presence on a plant was easily 

 detected by the brown dead patch on the leaf where they had fed the year before and 

 which showed plainly on the outside. The leaves containing the larvte, moreover, as often 

 as not, had some water in them. This, of course, may have resulted from the debris at 

 the bottom having stopped up the hole observed by Mr. Thaxter. On one or two occa- 

 sions when the larvae were shaken off' into the water, they floated on the top and easily 

 regained their places on the sides of the pitcher. In all instances the surface of the leaf 

 was eaten at one place only, generally near the top inside the leaf, the outside skin being 

 left intact. The larva is sluggish and seldom moves from its feeding ground until full 

 grown, when it spins a loose cocoon of very fine cobwebby silk, either against the side of 

 the pitcher or, in two instances,,beneath the surface of the mass of decomposed insects 

 and its own excreta. The web over the mouth of the pitcher, although very fine, seems 

 to keep out quite effectually all other insFcts after the leaf has been taken possession of 

 by the larva. The time of appearance of this moth is rather extended. Moths have been 

 taken here by the first week in June, and at the same time a very small larva was found 

 which did not give the perfect insect until the 12th of July. 



The following is a description of this caterpillar when full-grown : Lenjith, when 

 extended, three-quarters of an inch ; spindle-shaped ; distinctly segmented ; general out- 

 line closely resembling the larva of Xantkoptera semicrocea, figured by Prof. Riley on 

 page 208 of the Canadian Entomologist, vol. vi., but lacking the fleshy processes of the 



