Rep OUT of the State Entomologist. 273 



Another Species Reared from, the Seeds. 



A package of these seeds was received by me in August, 1884, from a 

 correspondent at Garrisons, N. Y., to whom they had come by mail without 

 any indication of their source. Soon after opening the box, and leaving 

 its contents exposed on my table, a moth was noticed on the window of 

 my office. It was captured, and from its general appearance, its source 

 was naturally referred to the Euphorbia seeds ; and as confirmatory, on 

 examination, a seed was found split open in the middle and with" twisted 

 valves. The moth had evidently escaped from it. With n'o knowledge at 

 the time of the appearance and structure of the Carpocapsa saltitans, the 

 above example was accepted as that species, and referred to as such in a 

 communication on " Jumping Seeds " made to the Country Gentleman, of 

 September 11, 1884. The peculiar structure of its hinder legs — the tibiae 

 and tarsi of which were broadly dilated (it was a male) — seemed so iinlike 

 a Carpocapsa; that a reexamination and study was made of it later, with 

 the interesting result that it was the insect which Lord Walsingham had 

 described as Carpocapsa latiferreana,* and for which Professor Eiley, from 

 the structural peculiarities above noticed and others, had subsequently 

 established the genus Mellisopus.t 



Prof. Fernald, in his Catalogue of the Tortricidce of North America, has 

 given as the habitat of M. latiferreana. New Hampshire, Missouri, Cali- 

 fornia, and Texas, and for its food, oak acorns. If knowledge of its food is 

 hitherto limited to this statement, the escape of an example from a 

 Euphorbia seed, is an interesting incident. Will its larva prove to be a 

 •'jumper?" Its manner of escape, through the splitting of the seed, is 

 quite different from that of C. saltitans, to be described hereafter. 



Active Period of the Seeds. 



In writing of these seeds, under date of September third, after the emer- 

 gence of M. latiferreana, it was stated that the remainder (thirty-two in 

 number) were at that time in their larval stage, as each one showed active 

 motions, which are limited, it is believed, to this stage. 



The seeds were shown and remarked upon at the meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, in September, 1884, when 

 their strange movements excited much interest in those who saw them^ for 

 the first time. No note was made, unfortunately, of the time when their 

 motions ceased. Such observation would probably have marked the 

 approximate time of the larval change to pupation. So late as November 

 first, all but two continued active, though not to the extent displayed in 

 early September. 



Soon after their reception one of the seed-vessels was partially crushed 

 by accident, disclosing the larva within. The day following, the broken 

 and separated walls were found to have been repaired and firmly united 

 by a thick interior coating of silk. 



* Illustrations of Typical Specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the Collection of the 

 British Museum. Part IV,— North American Tortricidfe. London, 1879, p. 70, pi. 76, fig. 8- 



t T)~ansactions of the St. Louis Acadmny of Science, iv, 1881, p. 322; American Waturalist' 

 XV, 1881, p. 480. 



35 



