40 



Banana Leaf=roIIers of the Genus Omiodes [Lep.]. 



BY OTTO H. SWEZEY. 



( Specimens exhibited ) . 

 Omiodes blackburni (Butler). 



This species is the common Pahn Leaf-roller, which works 

 such havoc with the leaves of coconut palms. It is known to 

 feed more or less on bananas particularly the wild or native 

 varieties. Dr. Perkins, several years ago, reared numerous 

 moths from caterpillars which were very abundant on native 

 bananas at Makaweli, Kauai. A sample sent to Meyrick was 

 identified as this species. 



I have never until recently found the caterpillars of this species 

 feeding on bananas. In August of this year 1 found quite a 

 number of them feeding on bananas where they were growing 

 wild on the plateau in lao Valley, Maui. I also found them 

 quite numerous in Nahiku, Maui, where there are numerous 

 patches of wild bananas along the government road. In Octo- 

 ber, I found them feeding on the tall-growing cultivated varie- 

 ties at Kohala, Hawaii, and through the districts of the wind- 

 ward side of the island from Kukuihacle to Hilo. 



Omiodes meyricki Swezey. 



IMention of my discovery of the caterpillars of this species, 

 feeding on wild bananas above Honomu, Hawaii, is found in 

 Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, Vol. I, p. 134. The moths which I reared 

 from them proved to be a new species, and it was described 

 later (Bull. Ent. H. S. P. A., V, p. 24, 1907). 



In October of this year, while on an inspection trip through 

 the sugar plantations of Hawaii, I found the caterpillars of this 

 species very numerous on wild bananas, growing in the gulches 

 on the windward side of the island, from Ookala to Hilo, also 

 at Mountain View and Pahoa. Wherever I chanced to see wild 

 banana plants in these regions, they had been much eaten by 

 these caterpillars, and I could usually find plenty of them of all 

 sizes. 



Omiodes musicola n. sp. 



Male, female, 25-30 mm. Head dark fuscous in front of antennae, 

 ochreous fuscous behind; thorax and abdomen with fuscous and 

 ocheous scales mixed, some ferruginous scales also on some of the 

 segments of the abdomen, apical margins of abdominal segments 

 whitish; genital tufts nearly black. Antennae pale fuscous, ochreous 



Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, II, No. 2, Sept., 1909. 



