REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 267 



teen in all. The remaining fifteen, whicli reported slight damage, were 

 Anderson, Barber, Butler, Cl\a.se, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Lyon, Marion, 

 Pawnee, Pratt, Bice, Saline, Stafford, and Wyandotte. 



FOOD-rLANTS. 



There is ilo qnestion Imt that the preferred food of this species is the 

 foliage of plants of the genns Amaranfus, called in different parts of the 

 country Amaranth, Pig-wee<l, and Careless weed (corrupted into " Ker- 

 less weed " or " Karless weed'*). This was very noticeable in onr obser- 

 vations of 1873, and its next preference seemed to be Purslane. Pro- 

 fessor Snow also mentions Lamb's Quarter (also called "Pig-weed" Che- 

 nopodium), as a favorite food-plant. Prof. C. E. Bessey, writing from 

 Lincoln, Xebr., Angnst 11, mentioned an unusual abundance of these 

 larvra upon Amarantus ret^'ojltwxis and A. hlitoides. Another correspond- 

 ent mentions finding them the present year upon the common Cockle- 

 burr {Xanthium stnimariiim), but this was ]>robably due to their exces- 

 sive abundance and want of i>roper food. This also is probably the case 

 -with the common Burdock {liumex), which is mentioned by another cor- 

 respondent. Professor ]^:>]>enoe {loc. cit,) mentions, among the weeds 

 injured, Amarantns alha, Clicnopodium album, Amhrosia trijida, Apocy- 

 num cannahiyunn, and Grindelia squarrosa. lie also mentions the fact 

 that they injured a bed of scarlet verbenas. 



The cultivated plants injured during the year, according to our own 

 correspondents, are as follows: Corn, cottou, cabbage, cucumber, melon, 

 squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, Irish potato, egg-plant, tomato, beets, 

 bean, pea, red clover, alsike, alfalfa, orchard-grass, timothy, meadow 

 oat grass, millet, and apple-tree leaves. 



Thus it appears to be able to feed on almost any plant commonly 

 grown in truck gardens, and upon a variety of forage plants. Xo one 

 has mentioned, in fact, any plant ui)on which it will not feed. Profes- 

 sor Snow, in the article just cited, gives the following food-plants ad- 

 ditional to the above: Flax, tobacco, sugar-cane, castor beans, lettuce, 

 and onions. 



The species has been very generally referred to as the "Web-worm," 

 but as this is a very comprehensive term, wo have called it the "Garden 

 Web-worm," as a means of distinguishing it from the many other Web- 

 worms, most of which, however, occur on shrubs and trees. 



HABITS AND IS'ATUEAL niSTORY. 



The full natural history of the species has not yet been made out. 

 The eggs have not been described, the method of hiberuatiou is not 

 positively known, and the number of annual generations has not been 

 caref'.dly determined. Some of these gaps we would have endeavored 

 to fill up the present year but that we were much away from the office. 



Nmnbcr of annual Gencrationn. — From our own observations and from 

 what we have been able to learn from our correspondents, the first 

 brood of moths is noticed from May 1 to ?>Liy 7 in Texas, from May 20 

 to May 25 in ^Missouri, and from ^Lay 20 to June in Kansas. If, as is 

 altogether likely, the insect hibernates as a moth, then this May brood 

 may be considered as a second brood of moths, and as the adult off- 

 spring of the hibernating individuals. The larvae of the May brood of 

 moths are noticeable (/. e., full grown in numbers) from May 25 to Juno 

 1 in Texas, from June 10 to June IS in Missouri, and from June 7 to 

 June 15 in Kansas. Another brood of moths (the adults of the destruct- 



