BULLETIN OF THE 



ii 



No. 226 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. 0. Howard, Chief 

 May 27, 1915. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



THE VERBENA BUD MOTH. 



By D. E. Fink, 



Entomological Assistant, Truck Crop 1 and Stored Product Insect Investigations. 



(In cooperation with the Virginia Truck Experiment Station, Norfolk, Va.) 

 CONTENTS. 



Introduction and history 1 



Name and synonymy 2 



Distribution 2 



Food plants 2 



Description 3 



Habits and seasonal history 4 



Methods of control 6 



Bibliography 7 



INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY. 



During the fall of 1913 a bed of ornamental snapdragon (Antirrhi- 

 num) at the Virginia truck experiment station, Norfolk, Va., was 

 found to be infested by the larvae of a bud moth. The adults were 

 reared and identified as Oletlireutes hebesana Walk., or the verbena 

 bud moth. Although long ago recognized as injurious to certain 

 ornamentals, it appears that no attempt had been made to determine 

 its life history, with the exception of a short note regarding the habits 

 of the larva and a description of the different stages. Since 1868, at 

 which date it was fully described, an interval of over 46 years has 

 elapsed and but little has been published concerning it. 



The first intimation we have of this insect as a pest occurs in a 

 letter by A. S. Fuller, forwarded in 1868 with specimens to C. V. Riley, 

 then State entomologist of Missouri. Riley reared the adults from 

 the seeds of Tigridia and later identified the moth as an undescribed 

 species belonging to the tortricid genus Penthina. In honor of the 

 discoverer Riley named the species fuller ea. At about the same time 

 two other workers independently discovered the same insect doing 

 injury to flowering plants. Mrs. Mary Treat found it exceedingly 



1 This term is used in its broadest sense and includes all vegetables, and in addition ornamental 

 plants.— f. H. C. 



Note. — This bulletin gives the life history of the verbena bud moth, its food plants, and methods 

 for its control. 



88200°— Bull. 226—15 



