42 CIRCULAR 8 4 9, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Adita chionanthi (Abbott and Smith) 



Distribution. — This species is found in the Atlantic Coast States and 

 westward to Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. 



Economic status. — It is of no economic importance. 



Food plants. — Recorded food plants of this species are Chionanthus 

 (fringe tree) and Triosteum perfoliatum L. (tinker's weed, wild coffee). 

 The writer took one larva in pasture land, where the predominant 

 grass was little barley. 



Seasonal history. — Light-trap records indicate that there is but one 

 generation a year, the moths appearing in September. This species 

 probably passes the winter as a partly grown larva. One larva was 

 collected on May 24 and pupated on June 1. The adult emerged on 

 September 16. Thus the summer apparently is passed in the pupal 

 stage. 



Rusina (formerly Parastichtis) bicolorago (Guenee) 



Distribution. — This species is rather widely distributed, being 

 recorded from Canada, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 

 Tennessee, Iowa, and Texas. The writer has taken the species in 

 Kansas and Nebraska. 



Economic status. — It is of minor importance in the central Great 

 Plains, but sometimes becomes numerous locally. 



Food plants. — The larvae feed on tobacco, Rumex crispus L., soft 

 maple (Acer saccharinum L.), and cabbage. The writer found the 

 larvae most numerous in and about clumps of mushrooms, on which 

 they fed readily in captivity. The soft brown shades of the larvae 

 blend well with the colors in mushrooms. 



Seasonal history. — There is but one generation of this species a year. 

 The moths appear late in the season, usually not until the end of 

 October. Rusina bicolorago was one of the last species to be taken at 

 light traps in the latitude of Manhattan, Kans. Crumb (5) records 

 that in Tennessee it probably passes the winter in the egg stage, the 

 eggs hatching early in the following spring. The larvae reach matu- 

 rity late in April and form tough cocoons of silk mixed with soil. They 

 pass the summer as inactive larvae, pupating late in August and 

 September. 



Prodenia ornithogalli Guenee 



Yellow-striped Armyworm 

 (Figs. 4, Q; 6, A; 7, K) 



Distribution. — The yellow-striped armyworm is widely distributed 

 in the United States, but is most common in the South. It is found 

 also in the Bahama Islands, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. 



Economic status. — In the central Great Plains the species is of minor 

 economic importance, at times becoming numerous locally. In the 

 South it is of considerable importance as a pest of cotton and of 

 various vegetable crops. 



Food plants and larval habits. — The species is a general feeder. In 

 their early stages the larvae are frequently diurnal, but in their later 

 stages they hide during the day in trash on the surface of the soil. As 



