REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 339 



The rearing of boll-worms at tlie department would seem to show that 

 in loose, friable earth the passage made by the worms in their descent 

 becomes obliterated by the falling together of the earth behind them; 

 but it seems probable that, in comi)act soil, any larva entering the 

 ground would leave a round passage behind it. A thin film of silk has 

 always been noticed lining the cell in which the chrysalis is found. 



In addition to the prominent distinguishing point tha!i the chrysalis 

 of Aletia is invariably found only above ground, and is normally found 

 in rolled leaf and slight cocoon, while the chrysalis of Reliothis is in- 

 variably found only below the surface of the ground, normally in a 

 smooth shell, lined with a thin film of silk, it may be well to mention 

 the characteristic points which distinguish the chrysalides themselves. 

 ■ The pupa of HelioiMs is reddish or light brown, and polished, ajid the 

 pupa of Aletia dark brown, sometimes almost black, with the lower 

 margin of the abdominal rings, 4 to 6, of a reddisli-yellow or saifron 

 color ; it is not polished, but has a greasy appearance. ThApupa of 

 HeliotMs is rather stout, and the last segment is rounded and mrnished 

 with two slender, straight spines (Plate XVI, fig 6). The pupa of Aletiaf 

 contrary to this, is quite slender, especially the abdomen ; the last seg- 

 ment is not rounded, and its tip is prolonged into a tail-like appendage, 

 which bears at the tip 4 spines, the ends of which are curved so as to 

 form a loop ; four similar spines are placed transversely in a row^, a little 

 in front of the terminal 4 hooks ; this makes eight spines for Aletia and 

 only two for HeliotMs; the stigmata or breathing-holes are rather con- 

 spicuous on the pupa of EeliothiSj and scarcely noticeable on the pupae 

 of Aletia. 



We insert a detailed description of the chrysalis of the boU-worm for 

 the benefit of those interested :• 



Seliothis armigera. — Pupa: Length, J to \^ of an inch; color, reddish brown, darker 

 towards the head ; polished. The folloTving particulars will be noticed when exam- 

 ined under the microscope : the head, which narrows in the region of the maxillae to a 

 rounded, somewhat elevated ridge, is covered with mjjiute and rather indistinct 

 granulations, and has near the front a few shallow, transverse, impressed lines, which, 

 however, do not entirely cross from one side to the other ; there are also a few irregu- 

 lar impressions on the head behind the eye, and about midway between the posterior 

 angle of the eye and the posterior margin of the head is an impressed puncture from 

 which a very short stltf hair arises, and another shallow impression somewhat in the 

 shape of a V may be found at the midflle near the posterior margin ; the sculpture of 

 the thoracic segments is somewhat different from that of the head ; the whole surface 

 is closely and very finely faceted, and quite a number of irregular, shallow, impressed 

 transverse lines run over the whole surface; the 3d ring is very much wrinkled; the 

 surface of the abdominal rings is similarly sculptured; the front margin of rings, 4-7, 

 is coarsely pxinctured ; the 4th has only few of these punctures, but on the other three 

 rings they are quite numerous arouud the whole margin ; the front portion of these 

 punctures is deep, and they run out posteriorly more or less into a shallow, channel- 

 like imi>ression ; the posterior margin is covered quite regularly with slightly elevated, 

 dark brown granules of different forms; some are square, others five, and others 

 six-sided; the other rings, except the last, have nothing peculiar in their structure; 

 the last segment is bluntly rounded, and furnished at the ends with two quite long, 

 black, slender spines, which at their apical third are whitish, faintly bent upwards, 

 with their tips sometimes sliglitly twisted and directed downward; ventraily, this 

 ring and the one before it have each a short, longitudinal impressed line ; the cir- 

 cutuference of the stigmata is elevated, dark brown, with the center of a sandy color 

 and spongy texture ; the cases of the wings, legs, and antennae are covered with 

 shallow facets. 



TU5; MOTH. 



After the figure of the moth on Plate VIII, an additional extended 

 description will be unnecessary. It is a very variable species, and it 

 is owing to this fact that American specimens were so long consid- 



