APPENDIX I - REPORTS OF OBSERVERS. 369 



some time during the second day after their exclusion ; but I do not know -whether 

 they begin sooner or later when unconfined. They were only seen laying their eggs 

 once or twice, and this was done in a very interrupted manner, for they frequently 

 flew from leaf to leaf and from plant to plant, each moth depositing but a single egg 

 on a leaf, while frequently they would stop to feed on the nectar secreted by the cot- 

 ton-plant. 



Like many lepidopterous insects, these moths feed upon nectar and the juices of 

 fruits. Of the first-mentioned substance, nectar, by far the largest quantity, is elabo- 

 rated by glands situated in the flowers of many phaenogamous plants, and there are com- 

 paratively few plants which possess nectar glands situated outside of the floral envel- 

 opes; yet I never saw an Aletia moth visit a flower for nectar, while scores of them 

 have been seen to feed upon the extrafloral nectar of the following plants: l,the 

 cotton-plant (Gossypium herbaceum); 2, the cow-pea ; 3, the larger coftee- weed (Cassia 



The cotton-plant possesses extrafloral glands on the midrib and often on two of the 

 lateral veins on the nnder-surface of each of its leaves, as well as on the outside of 

 each of the bracts forming the involucre or square, and at the bottom of the calyx 

 alternating with these bracts, in the flowers produced later in the season. These glands 

 appear as shallow pits, and usually contain a drop of a clear, somewhat viscid, sweet 

 fluid, the nectar. When feeding upon this I found that the moths usually rested on 

 their feet, having their wings held horizontally over their backs, as was commonly the 

 case when they were at rest. In some few instances they merely balanced themselves 

 before the bract from the gland of which they were obtaining nectar, steadying them- 

 selves somewhat by their prothoracic legs, but maintaining their position chiefly by 

 vibrating their wings. In all cases, when feeding upon nectar, I found that the moths 

 repeatedly coiled and uncoiled their long, flexible maxillae, and their antennae were 

 usually kept in rapid motion. 



The cow-peaand whippoorwill pea possess numbers of small, circumvallate glands col- 

 lected at the end of each peduncle, which is produced slightly beyond the last flower. 

 These glands secrete an abundance of nectar. When the moths of Aletia are plentiful 

 they can always be found in large numbers wherever these pea-vines cultivated be- 

 twpen the rows of corn, and sometimes in cotton- fields, where a " stand" of cotton was 

 not obtained grow, and I have seen many of them feeding on the nectar. 



At the base of the petioles or leaf-stalks of the larger coffee- weed are single globu- 

 lar glands of a reddish or brown color, and their convex surface secretes a considera- 

 ble quantity of nectar. When feeding upon this I found that the moths preferably 

 alighted on the stem just below the leaf-stalk. Standing here, with their heads up- 

 ward, they rapidly moved the tips of their maxillae over the entire surface of the gland, 

 often coiling and again uncoiling them while doing this. Meantime their antennae were 

 kept in constant vibration, touching the gland, petiole, stem, and, in fact, everything 

 within reach of them, as though to guard against surprise by their enemies. When 

 another moth, of their own or some other species, crowded them aside, it seemed to dis- 

 turb them very little, but the slightest contact with nay finger always made them take 

 flight. Occasionally a moth alighted on the petioles or on the flowers or pods in the 

 axils of the leaves, and it then stood head downward while eating the nectar, but by 

 far the most of them rest on the stem, as described above. 



The following-named plants possess extrafloral nectar glands and grow more or less 

 abundantly where my observations were made : 1, the smaller coffee-weed (Cassia obtu- 

 sifolia); 2, the partridge pea (C. chamcedirista) ; 3, C. nictitans, sometimes known as 

 the wild sensitive plant, but to be distinguished from several more sensitive legumi- 



nous genera, including Mimosa, the true sensitive plant, growing more or less commonly 

 in the same region ; 4, the wild senna (C. marilandica) ; 5, the common passion-flower^ 

 or May-pop, (Passiflora incarnata) ; C, the cultivated bonnet-squash. With the excep- 

 tion of the first, these all secrete a considerable quantity of nectar, and, though I did 

 not detect the moths of Aletia in feeding upon it, there is no reason why they may not 

 sometimes do so, since other insects are attracted by it. 



I have seen the adult Aletia feeding on the following-named fruits: 1, the peach, 

 both ripe and decaying ; 2, the apple ; 3, the fig ; 4, the scuppernoug grape ; 5, the 

 jujube. When feeding upon the peach the moth forms a small oval opening through 

 the rind with the tips of its maxillae ; through this it is able to reach the interior of 

 the peach, from which it extracts the juice. Though many apples were examined, I 

 never saw one the skin of which had been perforated by the moth ; but where birds 

 had eaten holes in the fruit I often saw motns running their proboscides into the flesh 

 thus laid bare.* Aletia moths were often seen to perforate the skin of the common 

 purple fig in order to reach the juicy interior, though sometimes they made use of the 

 opening which naturally exists at the large end of the fruit. They were found feed- 

 ing on the juicy pulp of the grape, through the thick skin of which they seem to have 



* Moths were also seen several times sucking the juice from apples which had been pared and sliced 

 afterward being placed in the sunlight to dry. 



24 C I 



