420 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [NoV., '15 



an outdoor insectary under as nearly natural conditions as pos- 

 sible. The last moth to emerge from these pupae came out early 

 in January. All that remained after that date failed to emerge 

 at all, and investigation a little later showed that they were all 

 dead. Careful search through the velvet bean fields in Jan- 

 uary failed to discover any live pupae. The last moths to be 

 seen on the wing out of doors were flying late in December. 



3. There seemed to be left only the third possibility. This 

 led to an investigation of the insect's distribution and dates 

 of appearance in other localities. There was little found on 

 this subject in literature. Holland in "The Moth Book" gives 

 the distribution as the "Mississippi Valley." Dyar in his list 

 gives it as "Atlantic States." Over fifty circular letters were 

 sent out to students of lepidoptera in the eastern United States, 

 most of whom replied. To sum up the answers we get the 

 following results : No one north of the Gulf States had seen 

 the larvae. The moths have been taken as far north as On- 

 tario, but, with one exception, all of these moths captured in 

 the North were taken from late September to November. 



I could find no record of the capture of the moth in the New 

 England States. In the Northern States it seems to be most 

 frequently taken in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, i. e., di- 

 rectly north of Florida. All the available evidence seems to 

 indicate that Anticarsia gemmatilis is a mere wanderer in the 

 Northern States like Alabama argillacea. 



Velvet beans in the western part of Florida are not greatly 

 troubled, and both Prof. Worsham in Georgia and Dr. Hinds 

 in Alabama inform me that they have never noticed the cater- 

 pillars. 



Turning next to south Florida, we find quite a diflFerent con- 

 dition of afifairs. The insect begins to do serious damage to 

 velvet beans in the Miami section in July, at least six weeks 

 earlier than at Gainesville. On June 30, 191 5, the writer found 

 the moths to be present in the fields at Winter Haven in Polk 

 County, 28° N. The moths were all badly rubbed, indicating 

 that they were old. They were not at all abundant. No larvae 

 were seen nor was there any indications of their work on vel- 



