lOO ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '02 



be written on this subject — and it would make a big book — 

 composed of contributions from all the older authorities on 

 their special groups. If as complete as possible and fully illus- 

 trated it would make one of the most important entomological 

 and biological contributions of the era, and would be an indis- 

 pensable work of reference to every entomological student on 

 earth. And this they have to give. Will they give it? 



The Blackberry Crown-borer in New Mexico. 



Notes from the New Mexico Biological Station 3. 



By T. D. a. Cockerell. 



Dr. J. B. Smith, in his little work on Economic Entomology, 

 writes: "Blackberries are often attacked by a larva at the 

 surface of the ground or a little below it, boring sometimes a 

 little distance up or down the cane or completely around it, for 

 which reason it has been called the blackberry crown-borer. 

 Signs of its pre.sence are the sudden wilting and rapid death of 

 new .shoots, and it comes to maturity in early September of the 

 second year of its life, forming a pupa in the .stalk itself. The 

 resulting moth, Bcmbccia marginata, is black, very little marked 

 with yellow, and the only satisfactory remedy is cutting out 

 and destroying the larva as soon as its presence is indicated by 

 the wilting leaves. ' ' 



This pest has never been observed in New Mexico until I 

 took some of the moths at Beulah, Sapello Canon, July 25 to 

 31, 1900. This locality is about 8,000 feet above the .sea, in 

 what is called the Canadian Zone. Two native plants of the 

 blackberry genus, Rubus strigosiis and Rubies dcliciosus, were 

 common at the locality, and it was doubtless in these that the 

 moths passed their early stages. It is quite to be expected 

 that they will attack the cultivated canes, when these are more 

 generally grown. 



The moths appear to differ somewhat from the eastern ex- 

 amples, Ijeing perhaps rather .smaller, with dark scales blue- 

 black ; antenna;, sides of thorax and dark parts of legs quite 

 strongly purple ; collar almost white ; longitudinal marks on 

 anterior part of thorax almost obsolete ; basal two-thirds of 



