BIOLOGY OF THE LOTUS BOEER. Y 



continue to appear after the main blooming season are generally 

 smaller, contain relatively few seeds, and often have empty sockets 

 due to incomplete fertilization. 



So far as is known, this lotus has at present no economic value 

 other than its very obvious qualifications as an ornamental plant. The 

 work of the larvae of this insect on the leaves (PI. Ill) is conspicu- 

 ous and unsightly, and the attacks on the pods result in many mis- 

 shapen and distorted specimens as well as in the outriHit destruction 

 of an appreciable proportion of the seeds. 



PUPATION OF THE FIRST GENERATION. 



Pupse of the first generation are formed in dense, tough, papery 

 cocoons in the growing pods. The cocoon is not conspicuous even 

 when the pod is opened, as it is stained and studded with broAvnish 

 excrement like the walls of the burrow. In the great majority of 

 cases it lies well toward the base of the pod with its long axis parallel 

 with the va'scular bundles running to the seed sockets. Less often 

 it is found lying partially within or through one or more of the 

 partly consumed seeds. The cocoon and pupa are so much larger 

 than the seeds that it seems impossible for the pest ever to be acci- 

 dentally distributed in them. Larvae have been found lying entirely 

 within a single immature seed but never a pupa. In the cocoon the 

 pupa lies with its head toward the entrance, and after emergence 

 occurs the pupal shell remains entirely within the cocoon. The moth 

 escapes from the pod by the same opening through which the larva 

 entered it. 



PUPATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION. 



In the second generation the pupal habits are quite different, and 

 considerable search was required to locate the cocoon and pupa. 

 Even though a few pods continued to develop from stray flowers, they 

 were found attacked by larvae in only one or two cases, and the in- 

 creasing number of larva3 reaching maturity made it certain that 

 they were seeking other quarters. Two possibilities were open — the 

 over-curled margins of the leaves and the petioles. The leaf margins 

 yielded only a very occasional pupa, not enough to solve the problem, 

 and the petioles, standing as they did from 15 to 30 inches above the 

 water and offering apparently ideal conditions for a pupal burrow, 

 remained unscarred. To be sure, an occasional shallow pit was 

 found in the upper end, opening to the upper surface of the leaf blade, 

 but never one large' enough to contain a larva. 



- The lotus at least in this plantation holds the leaves high above 

 the water on their stiff and milky-juiced supporting petioles until, 

 either from maturity or because of serious injury to the leaf surface, 

 they have about reached their limit; of usefulness. The petioles then 



