73 



have caught upward of a thousand of the butterflies in a week. At present the 

 attack is confined to one estate, but, of course, it may spread. This is the third 

 year it has been noticed. In the two first years comparatively sliglit damage 

 was done, but at present time a great deal of damage has been done. The 

 caterpillars enter the cane both from the bottom, close to the root, and work 

 upward through four or five .loints, or enter above and work downward, form- 

 ing a chrysalis at the bottom of the cane or in the ground at the base of the 

 cane. The caterpillars appear in October and November, and, as this is our 

 chief reaping season, many of them are destroyed by the mill. They have been 

 found in fields of loose vegetable soil which have been top-dressed with filter- 

 press refuse. 



Aly object in writing to you is to ask you if you would put this before the 

 entomologist of your Department to see if the butterfly is known, and to ascer- 

 tain its name, if it is. It also might be interesting to those engaged in studying 

 the cultivation of sugar cane and the disease from which it suffers. 



Hoping I am not giving you too much trouble and trespassing on your kind- 

 ness, believe me, yours faithfully, 



B. Howell Jones. 



In a subsequent letter, under date of Februarj^ 2, 1905, Mr. B. 

 HoAvell Jones gives the additional information that the plague of 

 these insects still continues on the Enmore estate and many thousands 

 of the moths are being caught weekly. He says the only remedies so 

 far practiced are catching the moths and destroying the grubs when 

 found. An attempt to attract the moths by putting a strong light in 

 the fields at night Avas without success. 



SYSTEISrATIC RELATIONSHIP AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES. 



The family Castnida\ to which this insect belongs, includes a con- 

 siderable number of very showy and large moths limited to the neo- 

 tropical region and more abundant in South America than in Central 

 America and Mexico, one species, however, having been reported in 

 the United States. The systematic position of this family has been 

 the subject of some controversy among specialists. On account of 

 the clubbed antenna? and general showy character of the moths they 

 were originally assigned to the Rhopalocera and to the genus Papilio. 

 The discovery of the larvic and pupa^ and something of the habits of 

 some of the species has led to more correct ideas of their relationships. 

 In larval and pupal characteristics one is reminded of Cossus. The 

 examination of the material submitted by B. Howell Jones to Doctor 

 Dyar led him immediately to place them in the family Tineidse — an 

 anomalous disposition in view of their great size, but warranted by 

 evident structural characters. The habits of but few species of this 

 genus are known, and these agree in being internal feeders, and this 

 is probably true for all. In this particular species pupation occurs 

 within the larval burrow. Other species, however, leave the burrow 

 and form loose cocoons. The following brief description of the 



