154 Forty-first Report on tee State Museum. 



Emergence of the Moth. from the Seed- Vessel. 



The first moth made its appearance on the 13th of April, 1885, having 

 escaped from its box and aliglited on my table in the evening, where it 

 had been attracted by the light. Of the twenty seeds that had been 

 retained, fourteen at this time showed the small (nearly one-tenth of an 

 inch in diameter) rounded interior larval cutting, the outer shell of 

 which would be separated and pushed off as a lid for the escape of the 

 imago. In each instance this mark was on the lower end of the outer 

 surface of the seed, nearly opposite to the scar of the inner surfaces, and 

 in all but two was so nearly central as to embrace the carina. The seeds 

 not tlius marked, without doubt, contained dead insects. 



This method of preparation for the escape of the imago is quite different 

 from that given by Prof. Eiley, in the Transactions of the St. Louis Acad- 

 emy of Science {loc. cit.), which is as follows: "Toward the month of 

 February the larva eats a circular hole through the hard shell of its hab- 

 itation, and then closes it again with a little plug of silk so admirably 

 adjusted that the future moth, which will have no jaws to cut with, may 

 escape from its prison." 



Examination of the lid of the aperture through which the insect has 

 effected its escape, will show that it consists only of the outer wall of the 

 seed — the inner wall and the thicker white connecting material between 

 the two, having been eaten away. A slight pressure by the pupa would 

 suffice for detaching and forcing open the lid, which frequently retains its 

 attachment to the seed by a few fibres at one point. The empty pupa-case 

 is often held in the opening (as represented in figure 63 at e), as in the 

 ^geriadce, to those of which its abdominal bands of teeth gives it 

 resemblance. 



When the Moths are Disclosed. 



Each of the fourteen seeds disclosed its imago. Their time of appear- 

 ance was very unequal — the first moth emerging April thirteenth, as pre- 

 viously stated, and the last September twentieth. Those reared in Paris 

 by M. Lucas were obtained between the tenth and twentieth of February, 

 and in London, by Professor Westwood, during the same month. 



Other Jumping Seeds. 



In addition to the above, three other "jumping seeds," according to Dr. 

 Hagen, are known, viz. : An Euphorbia, also of Mexico, containing a small 

 hymenopterous insects ; a Tamarix, of Algiers, containing a coleopterous 

 larva bearing the name of NanojDhyes tamariscis; and another, the seed of 

 which is unknown by name, in which a hymenopterous insect undergoes 

 its transformations. 



Further information in regard to these seeds and their insect guests may 

 be found in the American Naturalist for April, 1876 (loc. cit.), in an article 

 entitled "Jumping Seeds and Galls," by C. V. Riley; by the same, in the 

 Proceedings of the TJ. S. National Museum (loc. cit.) ; and in Field and 

 Forest, by its editor, Mr. Charles R. Dodge, as cited. 



