522 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



insect was observed in 1910, especially about New Haven, and in 

 1911 its work was again noticed. 



Habits and Injury 



The adults emerged in the insectary from April 10th to 20th, 

 but they do not appear in the open until about the first of July. On 

 July 3d, 1911, specimens were collected by the writer on the screen 

 door of his house, the moths having been attracted by the hght in 

 the hall. As there is a low hedge of Japanese barberry in front of 

 the house and only a few feet away, they were doubtless there for the 

 purpose of ovipositing, and later a few caterpillars were found on 

 this hedge. 



The writer and his assistants hunted for the eggs, but could not 

 find them. Presumably they are laid on the leaves of the food plant. 

 The writer's hedge was slightly attacked in both 1910 and 1911. In 

 one instance a tall hedge of B. vulgaris near the writer's home was 

 almost entirely stripped of leaves at the top for a distance of two or 

 three rods, leaving only the old webs containing the excrement, and 

 rendering the hedge very unsightly. Spraying with lead arsenate 

 would, of course, be the remedy. 



The larva spins a web in which is collected the excrement, giving 

 to the web a brown or dark gray color. This forms a case in which 

 the larva lives and feeds. It is usually about two inches long and 

 from three-eighths to one-half inch in thickness, though varying 

 greatly in size and sometimes being several inches long. The case is 

 attached to the leaves or twigs of the barberry and often includes 

 both, as well as the fruit. As the eggs are laid about July 1st, it is 

 usually a month later before larva? or nests are noticed, and often 

 two months later before they are conspicuous. After the leaves drop 

 the old nests or webs disfigure the plants throughout the winter unless 

 removed. The larvae do not pupate in the nests, but go into the 

 ground and transform in a tough cell, oval or oblong in shape and 

 made of particles of soil held together by silk threads. 



Identity and Literature 



On account of the appearance and characteristic position of this 

 moth when at rest with wings folded, as well as the antennal tufts of 

 the male, it was thought to be a Deltoid, and specimens were sent for 

 identification to Prof. J. B. Smith, who kindly replied as follows: 



"Yours of the 5th inst. came duly to hand, and so did the box of 

 specimens. The latter proved to be not Deltoids or Noctuids at all! 

 — they belong to one of the Pyralid families, and the species is Ompha- 

 locera dentosa. I am under the impression that this species was 



