2 BULLETIN 427, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



eluded that it was probably the same insect which had in previous 

 years caused so much trouble in New Zealand. 



The tuber moth has been known in Cahfornia (San Francisco) 

 since 1856/ and in southern California at least since 1874. 



Mr. Wnham Wood, commissioner of Los Angeles County, reports 

 that in 1874 when planting potatoes in the vicinity of Whittier, 

 Cal., the seed potatoes were badly attacked by the larva of this 

 insect, and in most of the eyes the sprouts had been killed. He 

 states that the Chinese who planted a majority of the fields were in 

 no way worried by the presence of the insect, so he did not consider 

 it a new arrival. The description of the injury given, and the fact 

 that Mr. Wood is quite f amiUar with this insect, would indicate that 

 the tuber moth was well distributed in southern California before 1874. 



The first recognized technical description of the species was made 

 by Zeller (5) in 1873 from specimens collected in Texas. In 1874 the 

 insect was redescribed from specimens collected in Algeria. 



An article published by David Gunn (66) mentions the tuber moth 

 as occurring in Canada in 1878. Staudinger and Rebel (39), in their 

 catalogue of Lepidoptera published in 1901, also list this locality. 

 As yet, however, these statements remain unverified, and the tuber 

 moth is not at present known to exist in Canada. 



In California the potato tuber moth has been reported as established 

 and working on potatoes in the following counties: 



Alameda, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Kern, Los Angeles, Modoc, 

 Monterey, Napa, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San 

 Bernardino, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Diego, San Joaquin, San 

 Luis Obispo, Shasta, Sonoma,^ Stanislaus, Ventura, and Yolo. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



In literature the tuber moth has been given the following distribu- 

 tion, the date appended being either that of the pubhcation, or the 

 time its occurrence was reported. 



New Zealand, "Some years before 1854." 



(1)3 



Tasmania, 1854 (Capt. H. Berthon). (1) 



California (San Francisco), 1856. 



Texas, 1872. (4) 



Algeria, 1874. (5) 



CaHfornia, 1874. 



Australia, 1878 ("Some years back"). (7) 



California, 1881. (13) 



(LosGatos, Santa Clara County, 1888). 



(21) 

 (Alameda County, 1891). (24) 

 (Bakersfield, Kern County, 1891). 

 (23) 



Florida, 1897. (35) 



North Carolina, 1897. (33) 



Virginia, 1897. (36) 



South Carolina, 1897. (36) 



South Africa, 1898. (37) 



Hawaii, 1905. (50) 



India, 1906. (59) 



Southern Europe. (59) 



Italy, 1906. (Some years before.) (73) 



Cuba, 1907. (54) 



France. (88) 



Spain. (88) 



Canary Islands. (88) 



Azores. (88) 



1 California Orchard and Farm, September 15, 1S93. 



2 Localities furnished by Mr. E. O. Essig, of the University of California. 



3 Numbers in parentheses refer to similar numbers in the "Bibliography," p. 52. 



