August, '21| SNYDER: LEPIDOPFEROl^S LARVAE IN TIMBERS 367 



liei, according to Heinrich,^ has the following food plants: Polygon- 

 um ("jointweed", "knotweed", "smartweed"), Ambrosia ("ragweed", 

 * wormwood"), Xanthium ("clotbur", "cocklebur"), Eupatorium ("Joe- 

 Pye Weed"), and com, etc. 



The insect, according to Heinrich,^ occurs from Quebec south to 

 Tennessee. 



The house is set in open woodland with undergrowth of weeds, which 

 also occur along the private road leading from the Fairfax "pike" to 

 the house. Joe-Pye Weed was growing along the private road of this 

 estate and its fruit was ripe. A small patch of corn still stands near 

 the house. The larvae merely bored into the soft cypress wood for 

 hibernation quarters, not feeding on the wood at all and hence not be- 

 ing deterred by the paint. Very probably larvae are also hibernating 

 in the dry com stalks. 



Remedies suggested were to mow down and btirn the weeds and the 

 com stalks. Carbon disulphid was inserted into the holes in the wood- 

 work of the house by means of a medicine dropper and the entrance 

 plugged with putty and then painted over. It was suggested that 

 some of the badly bored molding of the pilasters be replaced. 



From past experience it was not believed that any chemical preserv- 

 ative treatment of the wood would be of any value since the treat- 

 ment would necessarily have to be superficial. At Falls Church, Va. , 

 on October 31, 1916, brown cocoons spun by large Lepidopterous lar- 

 vae (Notodontid) were found on an experimental yellow pine 2" x 4'' 

 X 3' stake, which had received a heavy treatment with creosote. In 

 spinning the cocoons the larvae had cut oval hollows to the depth of 

 I inch into the wood, in order to form a protective base for their co- 

 coons. Mr. Heinrich has identified these larvae as Cerura muUiscrip- 

 ta Riley, adding the statement that: 



The larv^a of this genus normally scoops out a hollow in the wood 

 of trees, shrubs or other convenient things, using the chips in making 

 the cocoon which is a covering over the hollowed-out place. They do 

 not feed on the woody tissue or otherwise attack it. 



Mr. H. S. Barber states that several years ago Lepidopterous lar- 

 vae made similar excavations in the cypress shingles roofing the cabin 

 at Plummers Island, Md. 



Since these larvae were not deterred by the creosote treatment — and 

 coal-tar creosote is one of the most effective wood preservatives known — 



'Heinrich, Carl. Note on the European Corn Borer {Pyrausta nubilalis Hiibner) 

 and its nearest American Allies, with Description of Larvae, Pupae, and One New 

 Species. Jour. Agric. Res., Vol. XVIII, No. 3, Nov. 1, 1919, pp. 171-178. 



