REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I9II I23 



Protective mimicry. The posterior extremity of many female 

 Lepidoptera is protected with a thick tuft of scales. This struc- 

 ture is especially well marked in the Sesiidae. Professor Beuten- 

 mueller has given illustrations of the tufts in the case of a num- 

 ber of species. This structure is presumably protective and is 

 doubtless of some value in maintaining equilibrium while the 

 insect is in the air. It is not improbable that these scale tufts 

 are intimately connected with a scent gland so that when ex- 

 panded they are of material service in attracting the opposite 

 sex. We have shown at plate 17, figure 4 the expanded tuft of 

 Pyrausta theseusalis Walk, as it exists upon a museum 

 specimen which evidently died with the' tuft fully expanded. 

 Superficially, this expanded tuft resem.bles some of the downy, 

 floating seeds, such as that of the dandelion. A closer examina- 

 tion shows this circular, apparently homogeneous organ to con- 

 sist of two closely apposed, semicircular parts each overlapping 

 the other slightly. 



Leptosyna quercivora n. nom. This specific designation is pro- 

 posed for L. quercus Felt 191 1, preoccupied hyL. quercus 

 Kieff. 1904, 



