20 PAPERS ON INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETABLES. 



but is a little more definite in the dark forms. Near the anterior 

 margin of the forewings there are three rather conspicuous black 

 dots, one near the middle and one each side. The underside of the 

 wings is paler and somewhat similar to the upper. The eyes are dark 

 brown, nearly black. The abdomen is darker than the wings, and 

 there are two black spots on the anterior margin of the third abdominal 

 segment. The legs are long and slender. The total length of the 

 body is less than one-half inch (12 mm.) and the wing expanse is 

 about 1 inch (22 to 26 mm.). 



The egg. — The egg is of irregular, short, oval outline, and consider- 

 ably flattened upon the surface on which it is deposited. The color 

 is pale yellowish, which looks green, owing to its semi transparence, 

 permitting the color of the leaf to show through. The surface is 

 finely reticulated, and under a high-power microscope is seen to be 

 composed of minute, very irregular, moderately depressed areas, 

 chiefly hexagonal and pentagonal in outline. The surface is rather 

 strongly iridescent and glistens, presenting the appearance of a fish 

 scale in miniature. Length, 0.6 mm.; width, 0.45 mm. 



Eggs obtained in confinement, May 26, were deposited singly on 

 the underside of beet leaves. Mr. Marsh also observed the eggs on 

 the underside of amaranth leaves at Brownsville, Tex., June 22, 1909. 



The larva. — The larva (fig. 3, b, c) is slender, cylindrical, and in the 

 arrangement of the piliferous tubercles resembles Loxostege similalis 

 Guen. and L. obliteralis Walk. The tubercles are not conspicuous in 

 living specimens, but become prominent in preserved material. The 

 color of the larva is dark, dirty green, with dark, mottled brown-and- 

 black, or nearly black, head and thoracic plate, the latter widely sepa- 

 rated at the middle. The dorsal piliferous tubercles are large and 

 black, the two pairs being closely jointed. The remaining tubercles are 

 large and infuscated, the dorsal ones transverse and arranged in two 

 pairs, one pair on each segment. The tubercles of the last segment 

 form a central plate, with a lateral one each side, in front of the larger 

 anal plate. When boiled for preservation the larva becomes perfectly 

 white, bringing into prominence the # rings of tubercles which com- 

 pletely encircle each segment. The length of the larva when full 

 grown is about three-fourths of an inch (19-20 mm.), and the width 

 fa to J of an inch (2.5-3 mm). 



Tlte pupa. — The pupa (fig. 3, d) is mahogany-brown, moderately 

 slender, with the anterior extremity rounded, and the posterior pro- 

 longed into a bill-shaped cremaster, armed at the end with four very 

 fine hooks, one lateral and two apical pairs, their tips strongly 

 recurved. The abdominal segments are without spines. The length 

 is about two-firths of an inch (10 mm.). 



The species is a pyralid and is placed in our lists next to Loxostege. 

 It bears >ome resemblance to Loxostege similalis, but is considerably 

 larger. 



