£J . 1. ] Miscellaneous Noles. 51 



After a careful review of what has been ascertained about this de- 

 structive insect, Mr. Howard concludes that it attacks all four of the 

 closely related species of plants Sorghum vulgare, Saccharum officinarum, 

 Tripsacum d act// hides, and Zea mays in the United States. Mr. Howard 

 adds — 



"The brown spots on the midsummer individuals in corn l in South Carolina and 

 Virginia affords no argument for the non-identity of the sugarcane and corn borers. 

 Moreover, specimens from sugarcane from Florida collected in October of the present 

 year show the brown spots and variation of the colour of head and prothor;icic shield 

 noticed in corn specimens, and are in fact indistinguishable from these. In addition 

 to this, from my observations in Westmorland country Va., the past August, it seems 

 probable that the loss of the spots is characteristic of the perfectly full-grown larva, 

 as at this late date the few delayed individuals of the first brood are all white." In 

 a foot-note Mr. Howard adds— " Professor Riley, who has examined the moths, both 

 from corn and sugarcane, since the above was written, finds that they all belong to one 

 species. Of over fifty specimens reared there is great variation both as to the distinct- 

 ness of the transverse lines and of the terminal series of dots, and as to the general 

 ground colour. It is also noticeable that the later-bred specimens from the south are, 

 On the whole, darker. The males are generally much darker than the females. The 

 material leaves no question that obliterate!! us Zeller. and cram b ido ides G rote, are. 

 as they have been made by Professor Fernald, merely synonyms." 



The question of the specific identity of the borers which attack sugar- 

 cane {Saccharum officinantm) , cliolum {Sorghum vulgare), and maize 

 [Zea mays) is an important one in India, where they do a great deal of 

 damage to all three crops ; and it is very desirable to settle definitely to 

 what extent the refuse of sugarcane (for instance) is liable to breed 

 moths that will lay their eggs in fields of cholum or maize that happen 

 to be in the neighbourhood. 



A number of moths have been reared in Calcutta from affected sugar- 

 cane that has been sent to the Indian Museum, and though they differ from 

 each other a good deal both in size and coloration, they seem likely to 

 prove to be merely varieties of one species. Moths also have beea reared 

 in the Indian Museum from caterpillars found in maize, and these also 

 seem without doubt to be identical with the moths reared from sugar- 

 cane. In the case of cholum, a number of infested stalks were sent to 

 the Museum, but the attempts that were made to rear the moth were not 

 successful, owing to the fact that almost all the caterpillars were found 

 to be suffering from the attack of a chalcid parasite 2 which proved 

 fatal to all its victims. As far as could be made out the cater- 

 pillar was the same as the one found in sugarcane. It is interesting 

 to notice, in this connection, that, owing to the fact that it is always 



1 Com — Zea mays, Ed. 



2 Since described by Mr. Peter Cameron as Cotesia Jlavipes k. sj?., &<=%. Mem. Man- 

 chester Lit. and Pliilos. Soc, 1801. 



1) :i 



