174 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



THE IMPRUDENT PHRYGANIDIAN. 



By Vernon L. Kellogg, Stanford University, Cal. 



The fittest survive, but not all that are unfit are extinct, else 

 how does that interesting moth, Phryganidia californica, con- 

 tinue to exist as a species in very tolerable health and prosperity ? 

 For this solitary remnant of what may have been one time a 

 widely-spread and well represented family of moths displays, 

 once each year in its life-history, a reckless disregard of prudence 

 that may sometime cost it dear. 



During the Autumn of 1894 and Spring of 1895, this moth was 

 very abundant in the vicinity of the University (Stanford), and 

 did much damage to the liveoak trees, which are the pride and 

 the beauty of the valley. This opportunity to work out the life- 

 history of an insect which, because of its systematic isolation, has 

 always been one of special interest to entomologists was not to 

 be lost. The results of the work have been published elsewhere 

 in detail, I wish to refer here only to a partly successful attempt 

 at self destruction which Phryganidia makes annually, and which 

 is the imprudence referred to. 



There are two generations ol the insects each year, and the 

 Winter is passed in the active larval stage of the second genera- 

 tion. The natural and usual host of the insect is the liveoak, 

 which is green leaved throughout the Winter, and thus furnishes 

 the food necessary for the active, feeding, Winter larvae. The 

 larvae are not restricted to the liveoak, however, but those of the 

 Summer generation may be found on the white oak, Douglas' 

 oak, and on two or three other species of deciduous oaks. At 

 the time of the oviposition of the Autumn eggs (the eggs are 

 laid in patches of thirty to fifty on the leaves) the leaves of the 

 deciduous oaks have not yet fallen; but they are certainly going 

 to fall. Phryganidia, however, — and this is the imprudence, — 

 lays its eggs on the leaves of deciduous oaks as well as those of 

 liveoaks, and just about the time of the hatching of the Autumn 

 larvae the leaves of the white oak begin falling. All of the un- 

 fortunate Phryganidia youngsters hatching from the eggs on 

 these leaves waken into life simply to die of starvation. Thought- 

 less mother ! The continued existence of the species is due to 

 the fact that a part of the eggs are laid on the liveoak leaves. 

 The new leaves of the deciduous oaks appear about April ist, 



