i 94 
ground color is yellow, dotted with black, and the surface is covered 
with numerous short, pale hairs. The head is black, with orange 
spots near the mandibles, and the apical third is reddish. The thoracic 
plate is also black. It measures, when full grown, about 14 inches. 
The pupa (fig. 20, @) is shining brown, the eyes brownish-Dlack. 
Two or three days after being formed the pupa becomes covered with 
a peculiar white flocculent coating. Its length is about seven-eighths 
of an inch. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
This species is tropical, and apparently injurious only in Florida, 
although it is recorded to occur in South Carolina, Georgia, and south- 
ern Texas. Along the Atlantic seaboard it sometimes extends, prob- 
ably only by flight of the adults, to a considerable distance north, 
individuals having been captured in New York City and about New 
Haven, Conn. It is probably not possible for the insect to breed in 
the Northern localities. It does not appear to be found very far 
inland. 
As to the foreign distribution of this species Scudder has not indi- 
vated special localities with the exception of Mexico. Through the 
kindness of Dr. Dyar the following localities, based mainly upon 
material in the National Museum, may be added: Cuba, Jamaica, 
Trinidad, Guatemala, Venezuela, Buenos Ayres, Argentina, and 
Paraguay. 
GENERAL REMARKS ON BIBLIOGRAPHY AND HABITS. 
For many years this caterpillar, known as the bean leaf-roller or 
“roller worm” (Audamus proteus Linn.), has been recognized as an 
enemy to leguminous and some other crops in the Gulf States. Injury 
is usually confined to beans and to cultivated beggar weed (Desmodium 
tortuosum); but according to Prof. J. H. Comstock, who gave an account 
of this insect in 1880 (Annual Report U.S. Dept. Agr. for 1880, p. 269), 
cabbage and turnip may also be affected. The article cited has long 
been out of print, and as the species has not received any attention, 
or been figured in any later publication of this Department, the 
opportunity is taken to present illustrations of the insect in all its 
stages, together with such brief descriptions as. are necessary for 
identification, to which is added a summary of the life habits. For 
the benefit of anyone who desires to go more deeply into the subject, 
it might be added that an extensive account of this species, with illus- 
trations and bibliography up to 1889, may be found in Volume II of 
Dr. S. H. Seudder’s Butterflies of the Eastern United States and 
Canada, pp. 1386-1393. A more recent account has been given by 
Mr. A. L. Quaintance (Bul. 45, Fla. Agr. Expt. Sta., 1898, pp. 55-60). 
