15 



cies of moth then present in that localit)'. They beg-an hovering 

 about the plants before sundown, often several individuals being in 

 sight at one time. A considerable proportion alighted upon the rhu- 

 barb leaves and innnediately crawled to the lower surface and disap- 

 peared when not molested, while others alighted upon clover and 

 weeds in the same field. 



Again the following year moths were observed in the same fields 

 and elsewhere early in the season, but careful search failed to reveal 

 any larvae. The onl}' wild plant from which the species has been 

 reared here is hedge mustard {SlsyinhiiuM officinale). Imagos issued 

 June 10-17. 



Attack upon field crops and weeds, aside from celery, is not so 

 obvious as in the greenhouse, the larvte being* distril)uted here and 

 there in such manner that the}' can do little harui. Hence it follows 

 that larva? are rather rarel}^ found out of doors, though the abundance 

 of the moths show that the}' undoubtedly are present and often in 

 some number, on a great variet}^ of crop plants and weeds. 



Later in the season of 1899 the species when sought for was rarely 

 found. Mr. Dorsett was a})le to obtain only three larvte from his 

 violet greenhouse, and search by the writer in several beds of celery 

 failed to be productive of manj'^ individuals. 



Novemlxn- 15, 1899, Hon. G. W. Koiner, Richmond, Va., sent speci- 

 mens of this speciss, among others, that were depredating on violet 

 beds in Louisa County of that State. 



January 12, 1900, Mr. Franklin Sherman, jr., wrote that this 

 species Avas breeding at Ithaca, N. Y., on a great varietj' of plants, 

 and had made itself quite a serious pest in the forcing houses during 

 that winter. 



In a letter of the same date Dr. James Fletcher reported attack by 

 this species in greenhouses in Canada. 



The foregoing mention includes only such plants as the larvffi have 

 been found to select for themselves. In confinement, larvie, after 

 devouring the potted plants upon which the eggs had been deposited, 

 were fed with bean leaves, which happened to be the most availal)le 

 plants on which to feed them at the time. It appears probable that 

 larva? would thrive on almost any succulent vegetation, with perhaps 

 the exception of conifers. 



In addition to the plants a])ove mentioned, there is a Divisional record 

 of this moth having been reared from some species of ragweed or pig- 

 weed (Ambrosia) from central Illinois. 



HABITS OF THE LARVA. 



Soon after hatching, the larva begins feeding, at first cutting little 

 patches of parenchyma from the under surface of the leaves, leaving 

 the upper epidermis intact, as shown in the illustration of an affected 



