summer in Washington, D. C. 



Pyralidse 

 The insect has a wide range, 



being known to occur in the West Indies and Central America. 



Genus PHLYCTAENODES Guenee 



This is a genus well represented in both hemispheres. There 

 are over thirty species found in the United States. 



(i) Phlyctaenodes triumphalisGrote, Plate XLVIII, Fig. 5, $ . 



This species, which is found in the vicinity of San Luis Obispo, 

 California, was described by Grote in the "Canadian Entomolo- 

 gist," Vol. XXXIV, p. 295. It does not appear in Dyar's List. 



(2) Phlyctaenodes sticticalis Linnaeus. (The Sugar-beet 

 Moth.) 



Syn. fascahs Hiibner; tetragonahs Haworth; sordida Butler. 



The moth, of which we give an enlarged representation in Fig. 

 218, has becmee in recent years the object of attention in 

 those portions of the 

 West in which the 

 cultivation of the 

 sugar-beet has be- 

 come an industry of 

 magnitude. It has 

 done considerable 

 damage to the crop 

 in Nebraska. There 

 are two and perhaps 

 three broods pro- 

 duced in a year. The 

 insect multiplies with 

 great rapidity, and 

 large areas planted 

 with the beet have 

 been defoliated by the 



caterpillars in comparatively a short time. The larvae hibernate 

 in cases woven of silk to which particles of earth are adherent, 

 and which are formed at a small depth under the surface of the 

 soil. By harrowing the ground it has been ascertained that many 

 of the cases are thrown up, and are emptied of the larvae by the 

 meadow-larks and other insectivorous birds, or are killed by the 

 frosts of winter. Many of them, however, escape such treat- 



395 



Fig. 218. Phlyctccnodes sticticalis. Twice the size 

 of life. (After Riley, " Insect Life," Vol. V, p. 320.) 



