239 



THE POTATO-TUBER MOTH 



{Lita solaticUd Boisd.) 



FIG '>! -Lita Kolanella Boisd. : a, section of tuber showing eye and eg-s deposited about it-uatural 

 size- 6, egg, dorsal view; c, egg, lateral view-greatly enlarged; d, k, mines of larva in potato; 

 i pupa at end of mine, seen through skin of potato-somewhat reduced; e, larva, dorsal view; 

 /, larva, lateral view; g, larva, third abdominal segment, lateral view; h, larva, dorsal view-stiU 

 more enlarged: ?, piijia ; I. moth— enlarged. (Original.) 



For many years past potatoes have suffered in Xew Zealand, Tas- 

 mania, and different parts of Australia from the ravages of a small 

 moth of the Tineid family Gelechiid*, the larva- of which bore into 

 stored potatoes and those which are still in the ground. The insect 

 has been treated of by a number of Australian authors, but particularly 

 by Mr. J. G. O. Tepper in the Transactions and l»roceedings of the Eoyal 

 Society of South Australia, vol. iv, p. 57, and by Mr. Henry Tryon in 

 his Eeport on Insect and Fungus Pests [of Queensland], Xo.l, 1889, pp. 

 175-181. It was tirst referred to, although without name, by Capt. 

 H. Berthon in the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van 

 Diemens Land, vol. in (1855), part 1, p. 76, and was first described by 

 Boisduval in 1874, who stated that it was very injurious to potatoes in 

 Algeria. He states that the eggs are laid upon the young plants as 

 soon as they put out from the ground and the newly hatched larva? bore 

 through the tubers, filling their burrows with black excrement and com- 

 pletely spoiling them. The identity of the Algerian species and that 

 in Australia seems to have been accepted by Tepper, Meyrick, and other 

 competent authorities. The habits of the insect in Australia are well 

 and concisely given by Tryon, whose account we quote : 



