54 



egg and first larval stage, will practically complete the account of the 

 life stages as well as can be accomplished by. office experiment alone. 



From latest information it appears that injury by this webworni was 

 first detected in the United States in 1895, and from what is known 

 of introduced insects in general it may be conjectured that it was intro- 

 duced at a considerably earlier period, probably several years prior to 

 the date mentioned, as it often requires a number of years for a species 

 of insect to become established after its arrival in a new country. 



The receipt of specimens from other sources and the reports of 

 injuries in new localities go to show a much wider distribution for the 

 insect than credited hitherto. Its occurrence, as now ascertained, in 

 South Carolina and Alabama renders it more than probable that it 

 already ranges throughout the Gulf region, although as yet perhaps 

 not in troublesome abundance, except in the States mentioned and in 

 Georgia. 



In the other works to which reference is made, and which will later 

 on be cited, considerable is added to our knowledge of the insect's for- 

 eign distribution; in short, it is shown that the species is already cos- 

 mopolitan and evidently rapidly widening its range. 



ADDITIONAL LITERATURE OF THE SPECIES. 



As a result of our first article, we received a communication from 

 Mr. Arthur M. Lea, Government entomologist, Department of Agri- 

 culture, Hobart, Tasmania, who wrote under date of June 27, 1899, that 

 this species occurs in very destructive numbers in western Australia. 

 While entomologist to the agricultural department of that colony he 

 published several notes on the species, which he describes as being the 

 worst of all cabbage pests. The species was unfortunately referred 

 to as Emrgestis rimosalis, but subsequently specimens were identified 

 by Mr. Otto Lower, an Australian microlepidopterist, as IleJluJa 

 undalis. One of these notes is published in the Journal of the Bureau 

 of Agriculture, volume IV, page 1120, issued at Perth, West Aus- 

 tralia, December 1, 1897. 



In the article referred to, which is the only one of Mr. Lea's that is 

 accessible at the present writing, the insect is called the "stinking- 

 head moth." Two characteristic appearances are described as being- 

 due to the work of the larva, called, respectively, " stinking-head" and 

 "balloon head," the latter being figured. "In damp, rich soil the 

 heart becomes a blackish crust, beneath which is a slimy, stinking fluid 

 swarming with maggots and various insects. In drier soil the outer 

 leaves drop off, the head dries and becomes balloon-shaped, and the 

 larval excrement may be seen on the stem and crown; the latter may 

 be knocked off at a touch; whole rows can be seen that have been so 

 destroyed. " 



