THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



235 



NEW PLUME MOTHS (Pterophoridffi). 



BY MARY E. MURTFELDT, KIRKWOOD, MO. 



The pretty and characteristic group of 

 Plume Moths have, as yet, received but lit- 

 tle attention at the hands of American ento- 

 mologists. The late Dr. Fitch described a 

 few species, while Prof. Riley, Dr. Packard 

 and Mr. Chambers have each published 

 descriptions of one or two, and this is the 

 extent, as far as the writer is informed, of 

 the work done in this country. European 

 entomologists have, meanwhile, through 

 their collectors in various localities, se- 

 cured and named a large proportion of our 

 species, many of which have been described 

 by Prof. Zeller of Stettirc, Prussia, and by 

 Lord Walsingham of England. 



Some two years since, Mr. Charles Fish, 

 of Old Town, Me., selected this 'interest- 

 ing family of insects for a specialty, and 

 has collected and studied with so much 

 assiduity as to make himself already our 

 best authority on the subject. He has ex- 

 pressed his intention of shortly publishing 

 a revision of our indigenous species, and 

 endeavoring to clear up, as far as possible, 

 the confusion of synonymy at present ex- 

 isting. Such a work is much needed, and 

 will, together with Mr. Chambers' publica- 

 tions on the Tineina, and Prof. Fernald's 

 J forthcoming List of American Tortricidce, 

 give our Microlepidoptera a definite place 

 in entomological literature. 



The distribution of the Pterophoridce in 

 this country is quite variable. But few 

 species are found in the Atlantic States 

 and the Mississippi Valley, while California 

 and the Pacific slope generally, as I am in- 

 formed by Mr. Fish, is comparatively rich 

 in species. In the course of seven or eight 

 years' careful collecting, I have only ob- 

 tained from this locality (vicinity of St. 

 Louis, Mo.) nine species, viz. : Fterophorus 

 carduidactylus Riley ; Oxyptylus {^Fteropho- 

 rus) periscelidactylus Fitch ; O. tenuidacty- 

 lus Fitch ; {O. nigrociliatus Zeller) ; Pla- 

 typtilia Bischoffii Zeller ; CEdematophorus 

 inquiuatus Zeller ; Leioptilus paleaceus 

 Zeller ; and an undetermined Aliicita, of 

 which I have taken but a single specimen. 



which is, according to Mr. Fish, the only 

 representative of the genus as yet reported 

 in North America. In addition to these, 

 I have bred the two following species, the 

 first of which is common, the second quite 

 rare. 



My acknowledgments are here due to 

 Mr. Fish, for generic determinations, and 

 much other highly appreciated aid in this 

 field of study. 



THE SILKY-WINGED PLUME, LcioptHuS Seri- 



cidactylus^ n. sp. 

 This species closely resembles Zeller's 

 Z. paleaceus, but differs from it in its 

 darker general color and distinctly striped 

 abdomen : 



Larva: Length, 0.55 inch ; diameter, o. 10 inch; 

 form sub-cylindrical. Color, when young, ding)'- 

 white, with a tinge of green, becoming at maturity 

 pale glaucous, often varying, especially in the 

 late Fall brood, to dull salmon. Dorsal hairs 

 proceeding from prominent tubercles, and of two 

 sizes in each tuft, each of the shorter ones tipped 

 with a minute pellucid bead of viscid fluid, to 

 which pollen and bits of leaves often adhere. 

 Lateral ridge well defined. Prolegs long and 

 narrow. When mature, the larva weaves a dense 

 mat of silk, upon which it extends itself, remain- 

 ing quiescent for two or three days, the dorsal 

 surface acquiring, meanwhile, a translucent lila- 

 ceous hue, with three greenish-white longitudinal 

 stripes, of which the medio-dorsal is most distinct 

 and continuous. 



Pupa, with ventral surface closely appressed 

 to the mat of silk, to which the anal hooks are 

 firmly attached. An upright or inverted hori- 

 zontal position seems to be preferred, although 

 there is no thoracic band or other support for the 

 anterior part of the body. 



Average length 0.45 ; diameter same as larva, 

 tapering rather abruptly from seventh abdominal 

 segment backward. Wing sheaths narrow, free 

 at the blunt-tips. Dorsum with prominent sub- 

 dorsal ridges. Color and markings quite va- 

 riable. In the spring brood commonly dull 

 green, with indistinct yellow lateral stripes. In 

 the Fall brood the dorsum is pale yellow, or 

 flesh color, with two fine indistinct medio-dorsal 

 lines of lilac color ; sub-dorsal ridge pale, in- 

 clining to lilac on outer side. In sub-dorsal 

 space are two nearly continuous, quite heavy, 

 black or fuscous lines, separated by a broad, 

 pale stripe, from two narrow, interrupted, dark 

 lines, one beneath, the other, above stigmata. 

 On the thorax the dark stripes are represented 

 by two slightly diverging dashes on each side. 

 Situated in the sub-dorsal ridge, at the posterior 

 edge of each segment, are a pair of small, gemi- 

 nate piliferous warts, each bearing a sparse tuft 

 of light sprangling hairs. The last larval skin, 

 rolled into a little hairy ball, is often supported 

 over the back of the chrysalis, raised above it on 

 the hairs of the sub-dorsal ridges. The pupa is 

 quite active and irritable, striking about in all 

 directions when meddled with. 



Imago : Length of body averaging 0.45 ; diam- 



