90 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Cotton moth (Alabama argillacea Hiibn.) . The appear- 

 ance of this southern moth in New York State is interesting, though 

 by no means unprecedented, since it was recorded in 191 1 from 

 three New York counties and in 19 12 from sixteen, the specimens 

 being taken mostly in September and October. 



September 25th C. C. Laney, superintendent of Rochester parks, 

 transmitted a number of specimens with the statement that they 

 had been flying around the city in great numbers for several days. 

 Mr M. S. Baxter of the same city also forwarded specimens which 

 he stated had literally swarmed for two days around the electric lights. 

 On October 20th, he forwarded additional moths with the state- 

 ment that they had appeared in such niimbers that it hardly 

 seemed possible they had remained about the city since the great 

 flight of September 25th. A number of the moths, some perfect, 

 unrubbed specimens were observed Monday morning, October 19th, 

 here and there under electric lights on State street, Albany. It was 

 easy to find three to ten or even fifteen specimens about a light. 

 A similar though smaller flight of these insects was also observed 

 on the morning of the 21st. At the latter date there were equal, 

 if not larger, niimbers of the lime tree winter moth, E r a n n i s 

 tiliaria Harr. English sparrows were observed feeding eagerly 

 upon the adults of both species. 



Phlyctaenla terrealis Treits. Small, greenish caterpillars webbing 

 together the tips of the Marsh Shield fern, Dryopteris thelyp- 

 teris, were received June 19, 19 14 from S. H. Bumham of Hudson 

 Falls. The terminal leaves were drawn together in an irregular, 

 webbed retreat some 2 cm in diameter, the interior being hollow and 

 partly filled with frass. Meyrick records this species as living on 

 Solidago virgaurea and gives its distribution as central 

 Europe, western central Asia and North America. Detailed de- 

 scriptions of the larva and pupa follow. 



Larva. Length 2 cm. Head a variable yellowish orange, with 

 irregular, lighter anastomosing striations. Ocelli five in number, 

 whitish transparent, arranged in a semicircle variably margined with 

 dark brown. Labrum yellowish, mandibles yellowish basally, 

 changing to reddish brown, the teeth dark brown. Antennae tri- 

 articulate, the basal segment stout, with a length one-fourth greater 

 than its diameter, whitish transparent, brown-margined, the second 

 segment slender, with a length three times its diameter, light brown, 

 the third segment as long as the second, more slender, tapering 

 apicaUy. Body a somewhat variable light' green, being darker 

 along the dorsal vessel, the tubercles whitish and fuscous margined. 

 Thoracic shield a variable yellowish brown, there being irregular. 



