03 



gregato more or less on tho under surface of the leaves and to eat 

 through to the epidermis of the upper surface. With inereased growth 

 hu'ge holes were eaten entirely through the leaves, and a leaf would 

 in some cases be completely devoured except some of the larger veins. 

 There arc among office records two of the earlier occurrences of this 

 species, one at St. Louis, Mo. , where this species was stated to be feed- 

 ing in its larval state upon the leaves of apple and peach, l)ut in confine- 

 ment onl}^, and another dated May 13, 1884, of the receipt of specimens 

 from Ashb}', Mass., where the laVva was stated to have done much dam- 

 age to the buds of grape, and apple and other fruit trees ; but as the moths 

 reared are not to be f oiuid among our Prodenias, it is fair to presume 

 that the person who identified the species may have been at fault. In 

 short, there is nothing to show that this or other species of the genus 

 ever assume the climbing hal>it, as is the case with the spotted cut- 

 worm, JToctua c-iii(/n(//i, which somewhat resembles Prodenia in the 

 pattern of the markings of the dorsal surface. There is also a record 

 of the larva identified as J\ eoDiiJiellnoi eating holes into the leaves of 

 raspberry. May 30, 1879, at Ithaca, N. Y., but it is not stated that this 

 occurred in the field. LarA'ie of this species have several times been 

 taken on grass by the writer and others in the District of Columbia. 



PUBLISHED RECORDS. 



Smith and Al>bot\s description appeared in the year 1T!)7 in Natural 

 History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia (Vol. II, 

 p. 180, Plate XCV). The specific name was derived from the insect's 

 food plant, Coniinellna co)iimunis Linn. We quote the original descrip- 

 tion and remarks: 



Pli. Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alls deflexis: primoribus fusco-nebulosis litura 

 (liffracta niaculaque ad apicein fiavescentibus posticis albidi.s. 



Feeds on Wild Coiiifrey {Comiiuitna coiiiinium), Hickory, (troundi)eas, etc. It 

 went into the ground Augunt 19, and the fly came out the 10th of ye])teni))er. This 

 moth, though found also in Virginia, is not very common. 



The illustration furnished of the moth is quite recognizal)le, but 

 that of the larva might serve about equally well for ornltluHialll or 

 eudiopta, our other common species. 



Smith and Abbot gave this species the name of Conmielina or wild- 

 comfrey owlet moth, and the first name we may retain for lack of a 

 better one, since another plant, Cyno<jlossuiii viryiincHDi^ is the one 

 recognized by present-day botanists as wild comfrey. 



In Glover's "Manuscript Notes from My Journal" (p. Ot)), two ref- 

 erences are made to Prodenia, commel'mm in his own earlier accouJits 

 in Patent Office Reports for the years 185-1 and 185.5, respectively, but 

 these accounts can not be referred to the species in question with any 

 degree of certainty. Mention has been made by the writer in Bulletin 

 No. K) (new series, p. GO) of the occurrence of this species on asparagus 

 at Colonial Beach, Va., in August. 



