86 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [March, '05 



Life History of Lemonias virgulti. 



By J. G. Grundel, Alma, Santa Clara Co., Calif. 



The female deposits its eggs on the stems and leaves of its 

 food plant, a species of Eriogomini, near the ground ; also on 

 grasses and other weeds near by, singly and in groups of four 

 and five. She doesn't seem able to fasten all the eggs as fully 

 one-half are dropped on the ground. The ^%^ is a flattened 

 globe of a bluish color, with a shallow depression in the center 

 and the whole is covered with small depressions very much like 

 a thimble. They are not so deep in the micropyle, and the 

 edges of all are surrounded with lancet-like projections. The 

 &%% is laid in August to September, and the larva emerges the 

 following February. The young larva feeds on the upper side 

 of the leaves, but when half grown, it feeds only on the outer 

 bark of the stems, and at night only, hiding during the day 

 among the dead leaves and roots close to the stems. When 

 full grown it is y% inches long by y^g- in diameter, color dark 

 slate ; abdomen red brown and legs red. On each side, next 

 to legs, ten yellow spots with tufts of short black hair, mixed 

 with long white ; the next rows have no spots, but only short 

 tufts of black hair shorter than in the first rows ; the next 

 rows have yellow spots with black hair and one white hair in 

 center of each tuft. Head black, covered with short hair. 

 The larva is a very small eater, and acts similarly to that of 

 Chrysophanus gorgon. It fastens a number of dead leaves 

 together with a very thin white web in which it rests when 

 not eating, and in which it also goes into chrysalis. The fly 

 emerges in about one month, and will feed only on the flowers 

 of its food plant. The female pupa is as large again as the 

 male, and is covered with a thin down, the empty larval skin 

 remaining on the anal end of the pupa. The fly is very plen- 

 tiful, and local in the Santa Cruz mountains, and is to be 

 found only on very hot roadsides. 



General Notes. — Last July while visiting a neighboring 

 mountain, I saw thousands of larvae of Deilephila lineata feed- 

 ing on all kinds of grasses and herbs, and I am very much 

 afraid they will be a pest in our vineyards, as they were about 

 fourteen years ago. 



Our San Jose scale that has been a pest in our orchards has 

 all disappeared. The brown apricot scale is all gone (thanks 

 to the little Comis fvsca) , and the black scale on our olives is 

 going fast, from what I don't know ; perhaps the hot weather 

 last summer had something to do with it. 



