62 



The pupa is of the customary Noctuid color, mahogan}" brown, and 

 Js of robust form, measuring about fiA^e-eighths -of an inch (16'"") in 

 length, and a little more than one-lifth of an inch (5""") in width. No 

 characters arc apparent, from a casual glance, to distinguish this genus 

 froDi allied" ones. The anal extremity terminates in two small divari- 

 cating processes, a character of many Noctuid pupa\ 



DISTRIBUTION. 



This species of Prodenia, as previously stated, is the i"arest of the 

 three common eastern forms, and although we have received material 

 identified as P. coiiinheJlnm from Ashl)y, Mass., and it is recorded by 

 Dr. J. B. Smith from that State, our list of definite localities appears to 

 indicate that it is Lower Austral, and not so well established in the 

 Upper Austral region as the other two species under discussion. 



At the present writing we can furnish oidy the following short list 

 of localities: '"Massachusetts"; District of Columl)ia; Charlottesville 

 and Colonial Beach, Va. ; St. Louis, ]Mo. ; Illinois; Macon, Ga. ; Ala- 

 bama; Lake City, Fla.; and Texas. 



THE QUESTION OF NOMENCLATURE. 



A glance at the synonymy furnished for the genus Prodenia by 

 Dr. Smith in his catalogue of the Noctuidte, published as Bulletin 

 No. 44: of the United States National Museum (p. 169), is sufficient to 

 show that considerable confusion exists in published accounts as to the 

 identity of the different species. According to Smith the "wheat 

 cutworm" mentioned and discussed by the late Dr. Riley in his First 

 Missouri Report (pp. 87, 88), and which he again mentions and figures 

 (as moth) in his Third Report (p. 113, fig. -IS, /-»), is ornlthogalll and 

 not comTnelinm, by which both this figure and a of the same illustration 

 are designated. 



This subject is discussed on page V'\ of volume 11 of Papilio, as also 

 in the Index to the Missouri Reports (p. 56). 



DIVISIONAL RECORDS OE OCCURRENCES. 



During recent years this species has been reported as injurious only 

 in 1898. November 10 of that j^ear we received from ]Mrs. H. B. 

 Boone, Charlottesville, Va. , specimens of the larva found feeding upon 

 violets grown in beds at that place; but there is an earlier record of 

 injury during the same 3'ear. This is by Mr. A. L. Quaintance, and 

 was pu])lished in the Farmer and Fruit Grower of October 8, 1898, 

 and it is evident from this account that the species is coming to the 

 fore as a garden pest, at least in the South. The account in question 

 relates to damage to the foliage of sweet potato by the larva of this 

 Noctuid ''throughout the State" of Florida. Reports had come in 

 from various localities indicating that the species was widespread in 

 its occurence there. During feeding, the young were noticed to con- 



