4 BULLETIN 783^ TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The head, without the mandibles, is truncate anteriorly and subtruncate 

 posteriorly. The general color is rather dark honey-yellow, inclined to brown. 

 The thoracic plate is pale honey-yellow, well divided at the suture and, while a 

 little darker on the outer margin, is nearly uniform in color. The anal plate 

 is very pale, scarcely darker than the joints. The three pairs of fore legs are 

 rather long and prominent. The prolegs, with the anal legs, are also prominent 

 but shorter. Observed under a strong lens the spiracles and piliferous tubercles 

 are minute but distinct, and the pubescence, although sparse and of fine texture, 

 is rather long, some hairs being nearly as long as the width of the body. 



The average length when extended is about 13 mm. and the greatest width 

 about 1.5 mm. 



THE PUPA. 



PI. Ill, B, C. 



In general appearance the pupa resembles that of other cereal-feeding moths. 

 The general color is pale yellow. The form is robust, and the arrangement of 

 the segments is well shown in Plate III, B and C, the latter illustrating the 

 ventral arrangement of the legs and wing pads. These latter extend nearly to 

 the antepenultimate abdominal segment. The eyes, in fresh specimens, show 

 merely as circular areas but when nearing transformation they become black. 

 The antennal sheathes slightly overlap on the posterior margin. The best 

 characters appear on the dorsum, the short median parallel elevated longi- 

 tudinal lines evidently being characteristic, as they are nearly black and quite- 

 distinctly marked. The spiracles are small but distinct. The anal segment 

 bears at the apex four processes, the anterior ones being in the nature of 

 short spines. 



Naturally there is a difference in the proportions of the pupa of this species 

 as in the adult, the length varying from 7.5 mm. to 9 mm. 



When about to transform the larva prepares a cocoon by joining 

 together, by means of silken threads, a mass of the material on which 

 it is feeding, as shown in Plate IV, A. An exposed cocoon is illus- 

 trated in Plate IV, B. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



While Corcyra cephalonica is known to occur in portions of 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and southern and insular America, it is by no 

 means truly cosmopolitan. Durrant and Beveridge (9)^ record the 

 Mediterranean region, India and Ceylon, the Cocos Keeling Islands, 

 Christmas Island, the Kei Islands, western Sudan, Nyassaland, La 

 Reunion, Para, Brazil, and Cuba and Grenada, West Indies. Rago- 

 not (7) records Italy, the Ionian Islands, and the Seychelles. To 

 this list may be added Porto Rico, Mexico, Hawaii, and Penn- 

 sylvania. 



FOOD HABITS. 



According to the authors just mentioned the rice moth would ap- 

 pear to be of eastern origin, introduced into Europe and elsewhere 

 by the rice trade, and this is undoubtedly true. They further state 



1 Figures in parentheses refer to " Literature cited," p. 14. 



