Vol. XXvi] ENTO»fOLOGICAL NEWS 419 



Another Migratory Moth (Lep.). 



By J. R. Watson, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 



Gainesville, Florida. 



Duritij,' ihc past year the wriupr has been working on the 

 life history and distribution of the noctuid moth Anticarsia 

 gammatiiis. This study has resulted in some rather interest- 

 ing discoveries. The caterpillars are a great pest of one of 

 our most valuable leguminous forage and soiUimproving 

 plants, the velvet bean (Stisolobium sp.). It attacks also 

 the kudzu vine and the horse bean (Cannavalia) . 



Neither the caterpillars or the moths make their appearance 

 ahotit Gainesville until Augtist, and usually do not become 

 ^t1ttH icntly abundant to cause material damage until the first 

 oi .September, although the velvet beans are large enough to 

 seem to be attractive as early as May. Hence one of the ques- 

 tions that we set out to solve was, Where are the insects from 

 early December until August? There seemed to be three pos- 

 sible answers. Stated in the order of their seeming probabil- 

 ity, they were : 



( 1 ) The caterpillars and moths are present during at least 

 the spring and early summer but in such diminished numbers 

 as to escape attention ; the caterpillars perhaps feeding on some 

 wild legtune. 



(2) The insect remain* 5n thf pupa stage until late July 

 or August. 



(3) The insect dies out each winter to again come up from 

 the south each summer. 



1. A careful search has been made during the past two 

 •easons for both the moths and the caterpillars during the first 

 seven months of the year. The fields and woods have been 

 carefully searched every few days and moth traps maintained 

 at night. This search has yielded uniformly negative results. 

 Not a single moth or caterpillar has been seen before August. 



2. Hundreds of caterpillars were reared in the laboratory 

 during October and November with special care to protect 

 them from "cholera," a fungus disease due to Botrytis rileyi. 

 These pujMe and others collected from the field were placed in 



