12 BULLETIISr 363^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



In September of 1894 and again in November; 1895; specimens in 

 the several stages, together with ears of corn in wliich the insect was 

 livmg, were kindly sent the writer by Mr. E. A. Schwarz, who gathered 

 them in the field at Baton Rouge, La., and Beeville, Tex., respec- 

 tively, 



June 6, 1909, Mr. D. K. McMillan sent some of this species feeding 

 in the seed-heads of sorghum from Kingsville, Tex. About the same 

 time he sent sjoecimens of what he described, as ''pink larvae," com- 

 mon under the shuck on corn ears, from Santa Maria, Tex. Later he 

 sent more material from Kmgsville, Tex., from which six adults were 

 found on June 25, three on July 10, one on July 12, and more on 

 July 13, 16, and 26. On June 20 he found this species workmg in corn 

 in the husk at Beeville, Tex. November 9 of the same year the larva 

 was again found in the heads of sorghum. 



Durmg 1912 specimens were received from Mr. M. M. High, Bureau 

 of Entomology. On February 16 they were found working on corn. 

 Seven living larvse were placed in cornmeal and all died in two days. 



During 1913 this species was received in dasheens (Colocasia sp.) 

 from Mr. R. A. Young, Brooksville, Fla. The adults issued Decem- 

 ber 3 and contmued to issiie from the dry corms. 



HISTORY AND LITERATURE. 



Our early literature bearing on the biology of this moth, if we ex- 

 cept line notices and brief mention,^ is contained in the accounts of 

 Townend Glover. In his first two entomological reports (Glover, 

 1855, 1856) its habits are described and the insect in its several stages 

 figured. In the first article the species is treated under the name 

 of "grain moth (Tinea '^.)"; in the second as the "corn worm 

 (Heliothes'^)J' Afterwards in his Manuscript Notes from My 

 Journal, or Entomological Index (Glover, 1877) the same writer 

 refers to this species as Tinea granella, throwing the responsibility of 

 its previous determination as " FleliotJies V upon D. J. B[rowne]. He 

 found it in the cornfields of South Carolina and Georgia in September 

 and says: ''It infests the cornfields, where it is sheltered by the 

 husks, and burrows between the grains, upon which it feeds, some- 

 what in the manner of the Angoumois moth, except that the kernels 

 are more irregularly eaten," and that "these worms also appear to 

 attack corn out of the field as well as in." Beyond this statement 

 the writer is not aware that the insect has ever been mentioned as 

 occurring in the granary, but from personal experience several years 

 ago it was learned that it feeds upon the ripened corn and is per- 

 fectly capable of living indoors and that it unquestionably does so. 

 Whether it is possible for the species to breed ah ovo m stored, i. e., 



1 In the American Entomologist for May, 1S80 (v. 3, p. 129), and agaia on page 121 of the appendix of 

 the Fourth Report of the United States Entomological Commission, incidental mention is made of this 

 species with the comment that, according to Chambers, it is a new species of Laverna. 



