\'r)l XX vi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



421 



vet beans. The moths had evidently just arrived. An equally 

 careful search at Tavares in I^ke County (a little below the 

 29th parallel) the next day gave entirely negative results, as 

 did a very careful search at Gainesville (about 29 deg. 40 min.) 

 on July 2. 



The followii^ data from the manuscript of Mr. Grossbeck 

 were supplied to me by Mr. Frank E, Watson, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History: "The moth was taken at South 

 liay. Lake Okeechobee, on April 29 and 30. Extends north- 

 ward to Staten Island, westward to Wisconsin and Texas and 

 so southward through Mexico and the Antilles to South 

 America." 



It does not seem, however, to be generally abundant in the 

 West Indies. Several correspondents in Porto Rico report 

 that it is not troublesome there or that they have never noticed 

 it. but it is reported to be common in Cuba 



It seems therefore quite certain that the insect does not 

 ordinarily winter over even in the central part of Florida, but 

 works northward each siunmer from south Florida where one 

 or more of its host plants are available for food at all seasons. 

 It seems to be a sub-tropical insect ill adapted to regions of 

 frost. There grows in south Florida a wild species of Canna- 

 x-alia that could well be its original host plant as well as that 

 of another species of the same gerras. A, ferruginea Sm. 

 Neither the velvet bean nor Icudzu are native to Florida. We 

 have here then a case of a native insect becoming a pest to an 

 ill' * <1 plant. 



N, however, it is not the direct action of the cold that 

 exterminates the insect. On November 21, 1914, the ther- 

 mometer on the station grounds sank to 22* which is consider- 

 ably lower than that usually recorded at any time during the 

 average winter. Yet pupae lying exposed on the surface of 

 the ground were not injured, and a number of moths were 

 captured in the field, a few days later when the weather had 

 moderated. The factor which prevents their enduring even 

 the mild winter of the latitude of Gainesville is their imper- 

 fect hibernation. A few warm days in winter causes the moths 



