58 «()MK INyEOTS li\J UHIOU.S i O IKUCK CROPS. 



Feeds on the Poke. Careless, &c. It went into the ground July the 5th, and 

 <ame out the 16th. 1 ouce met this caterpillar in such abundance, that amouir 

 a great quantity of Poke plants there was scarcely a single leaf untouched : 

 most of these caterpillars, however, were fly-blown by a kind of Jchneinnoii. 

 The moth is rare. 



This is allied to our Ph. frugiijcrda and Commelina: Between the under 

 wings of all these there is the greatest affinity. Their ^jm^jo? too are of a 

 similar bright red color, and their smooth-strii)ed caterpillars have nnich 

 resemblance to each other. 



RECENT INJURIES AND BIOLOGIC NOTES. 



On May 14. 1907, this species was observed on the leaves of tomato 

 in the trnclv garden of Mr. C. M. Berr}', at Orlando, Fla., where it 

 was eating holes in the leaves. Numbers of plants, here and there, 

 were infested and in most cases the entire plant was injured. The 

 same larva was observed on pokeweecl {Phytolacca decandra), and 

 afterwards on spiny amaranth (AmarantJius spinosus). By May '20 

 the larva' M'ere scattering and had grown rapidly, some being an 

 inch long. While young, these larvse feed on the underside of the 

 leaf, but Avith larger growth some wore noticed feeding on the upper 

 surface as Avell. 



May 24 an egg-mass was found on a leaf of the spiny amaranth, 

 laid in two sections on the under surface, one on each side of the 

 midrib. One mass had hatched at this time and the larvae were be- 

 ginning to eat pinlike holes through the leaf. 



On July 3 a field of Irish potatoes was found to be very badly in- 

 fested by these larvje. They were now nearly full-grown and had 

 .stripped the potato vines, many being observed i-rawling away from 

 the field in all directions. On one side they infested a garden at 

 least GOO feet awa}^ and were feeding upon eggplant, pepper, okra. 

 and castor-oil plants. 



Some interesting notes were made on the abundance of this species 

 in this potato field. On a single young plant of Amaranthus, 41 

 larvte were counted, and as many as 314 on a plant measuring 6 feet 

 in height. A careful estimate of the larva' on 10 plants of careless 

 weed, not over ('-> feet in height, gave a total of 1,300 individuals. 

 (See fig. 0.) 



To illustrate the voracity of these larva', where any potatoes were 

 exposed, they were soon covered by the larva' and the entire contents 

 eaten ou{ so that they were rendered worthless in about ten minutes. 

 About this j^anie date, July 3, the larva' were reported making quick 

 work of amaranth; whenever a branch became broken from any 

 cause, larvjio entered at the break and excavated tunnels several 

 inches in length. Pokeweed was entirely stripped of leaves, the 

 stalks and the shoots being eaten oti' at the outer end. Potatoes dug 



GO — y 



