42 



rsrcHE. 



LIFE HISTORY OF SYNTOMEIDA MINIMA GROTE. 



By HARRISON G. DYAR, NEW YORK. 



Only recently I had the pleasure of adding 

 this little moth to our fauna (Ent. news, vii, 

 69) and now I am able to present its life his- 

 tory. The larvae were found at Miami, Flor- 

 ida in December, 1S96, on a creeping plant 

 which looks like a little holly and grows in 

 the pine barrens among the saw palmetto and 

 "coontie." Tlie plant is Mygindn iiicifolia, 

 as I learn from Mr. Kinzel. A few moths 

 were seen at the same time, and from them 

 some eggs were obtained. There are five 

 larval stages, occasionally, perhaps often, 

 more, but there.is no difference in appearance. 

 Rgg- Sharply conoidal, rather pointed 

 above, narrowed at base; smooth, shining, 

 light ocher yellow, with a very bright pearly 

 white reflection on tlie side. Shell white, 

 under a half inch objective, lustrous, irrides- 

 cent, smooth, without reticulations. Diam- 

 eter .8, height .7 mm. Laid singly, or two 

 to seven together on the back of a leaf of 

 the food plant. 



Stage I. Light orange, immaculate, 

 smootli, slightly shining, segments distinct; 

 width of head .5 mm. Setae rather long, 

 blackish, iv and v whitish. On the thorax 

 three setae from a large subdorsal wart and a 

 small one below; a stigmatal and subventral 

 tubercle all normal for the family. On the 

 abdomen i and ii normal, large, iii with two 

 setae, iv very small, v rather large, leg plate 

 with several short setae. Subprimary setae 

 all absent. 



Stage II. All orange, warts concolorous, 

 small, rather smooth. Hair fine, not dense, 

 in spreading tufts, light slate gray, composed 

 of dark and pale hairs ; width of head .75mm. 

 Stage III. Orange, immaculate, the hair 

 thin and gray; head 1.1 mm. 



Stage IV. Joint 2 retracted ; tliree warts on 

 the thorax. Skin smooth, orange red, irreg- 

 ularly shaded with grayish dorsally and in 

 a distinct, broad, diffuse, subventral band. 

 Warts small, concolorous, grayish in the 

 gray marks, normal, iv absent except on 

 joint 12, where it is represented by two tiny 

 hairs. Hair not long, thin, not abundant 

 and notconcealing the body, slaty gray, grow- 

 ing in small spreading tufts. Head light 

 orange; width 1.7 mm., rounded, scarcely 

 bilobed. Hairs finely simply barbuled. un- 

 der a lens blackish and pale mixed. There 

 are no tufts or plumes. 



Stage V. Head rounded, light orange with 

 pale hairs; width 2.4 mm. Warts normal 

 for the Euchromiidae except for the absence 

 of wart iv. Ground color of body orange 

 red; a heavy, wide and dift'use dorsal band 

 reaching to wart ii and a second band from 

 wart iii to the feet, slightly interrupted 

 around the whitish spiracles, thus making 

 the body dark with a lateral red band. 

 Warts concolorous, dark, rather small. 

 Hairs barbuled, gray, black and whitish 

 mixed, except from wart i and ii above on 

 joints 5 to 12, where they are darker and thick, 

 almost tufted, forming a series of short, 

 separated, ill-consolidated brushes. Venter 

 and feet orange. Length about 20 mm. 

 There is considerable variation in the amount 

 of blackish shading present in the last stage. 

 One larva spun in the plumage of stage IV. 



Cocoon elliptical, composed of hairs and 

 silk, moderatelv firm, but scarcely opaque; 

 only a few of the hairs sticking straight 

 through. 



Pupa uniformly light brown, smooth and 

 shining. 



