THE PAPAIPEMA. 

 By Henry Bird, Rye, N. Y. 



I can well understand your success with the butterflies — no one can blame 

 them. Your familiarity with larval habits and foodplants prompts me to ask 

 your help in securing the larvae or pupae of a certain moth which you ought to 

 encounter. I am making a special study of the noctuid genus Papaipema, and 

 need more of Cahfornian species. I have tried to have professional collectors 

 get the larvae for me, the original discoverer in one case having moved away, but 

 to no avail. The larvae bore in the stems of a large woolly thistle, Cirsium occi- 

 dentale, and seem plentiful about San Francisco. They hatch out about June 1, 

 become full fed around August 1 , and remain in pupae about a month before 

 giving up their moths. A section of the plant containing the specimen would 

 reach me in condition if mailed m a tin box. I enclose a note on one of those 

 working in Cirsium, known as P. erubescens. Possibly this same species works 

 in Heracleum lanatum or other thick stemmed plants. Another species that 

 I desire even more than this one, bores the leguminous plant Psoralea machro- 

 starcha, one of the Pulse family. This species has been taken at Anaheim, also 

 at Los Angeles. Another ally works in the stem and root of the yellow Lupine, 

 Lupinus arborens. Others still have been seen in "Tiger lily and various large 

 Umbellate plants." Won't you please bear these matters in mind next June 

 and July and see if you cannot score a point on the professors, through the re- 

 discovery of these larvae? If you encounter any of these please write me. They 

 may be known by a peculiar dark girdle on the first four abdominal segments, 

 the other segments being relieved by white- stripes. If you gain a familiarity with 

 these boring larvae you will be almost sure to encounter unknown species. 



The following is submitted for your revised foodplant lists: 









Authority for 





Papaipema Species. 



Foodplant. 



Foodplant. 



1 



appassionata Harvey 



Sarracenia 



Jones, Bird, et al. 



2 



cerina Grote 



? 





3 



inquaesita Grote & Rob. 



Onoclea 



Bird 



4 



speciosissima Grote & R. 



? 





5 



stenocehs Dyar 



Woodwardi- 



" 



6 



nephrasyntheta Dyar 



} 





7 



marginidens Guenee 



Cicuta, Sium 



<i 



8 



baptisiae Bird 



Baptisia 



" 



9 



moeseri Bird 



Chelone 



Winn, Bird 



10 



furcata Smith 



Fraxmus 



Doll, Washburn 



11 



circumlucens Smith 



Humulus 



Bird 



12 



rutila Guenee 



> 





13 



ochropenta Dyar 



> 





14 



mernccata Bird 



Podophyllum 



Bird 



15 



insulidens Bird 



? 





16 



angelica Smith 



Psoralea 



Coquillett 



17 



astuta Bird 



Collinsonia 



Bird 



18 



arctivorens Hampson 



Arctium, Carduus 



Brainerd, Bird 



18i/ 2 



erubescens Bird 



Cirsium 



Bird 



19 



harrisn Grote 



Heracleum 



Thaxter, Bird 



20 



impecuniosa Grote 



Aster 



Bird 



23 



