163 



lobes; each joint of the galea is elongated between these lobes and, 

 finally, the palpifer is a flattened, elongated, partly membranous 

 process, from the base of which the palpus arises. The figure of the 

 Bittacus maxilla shows only incompletely the really remarkable struc- 

 ture of this family. My studies on it are yet too incomplete to make 

 generalization safe, but I believe that they will afford a most valuable 

 clew to the line in which certain mouth structures have developed. 



The conclusion after an examination of these structures is irresistible; 

 the flexible process in Pronuba is an extension of the palpifer, homolo- 

 gous with the rigid piercing structure in the Hemii^tera and piercing 

 Diptera, and with the more membranous structure in the Panorpidae. 

 It is a special development only in the sense that it is adapted for a 

 special duty, and in the same sense that the ligula in Tabanus and 

 in Apis are each special developments for the advantage of these in- 

 sects. 



THE POTATO-TUBER MOTH. 



(Lita solaneUa Boisd.) 

 By R. Allan Wight, Faeroa, JSf. Z. 



Mr. Koebele in his ^'Eeportof a Trip to Australia, to investigate the 

 Natural Enemies of the Fluted Scale" (p. 25) writes: "The small Ti- 

 neid, so destructive to potatoes in California, and no doubt already dis- 

 tributed over the most of the Western States, has been known in New 

 Zealand for years, and it is doing the same mischief all over Australia, 

 where it originated. In conversation with a merchant from Denver, 

 Colo., recently, he said that a year ago he received three cart loads of 

 California i)otatoes infested with these worms to such a degree that 

 they could not be sold." As far as the New Zealand pest of the potato 

 goes, it may very probably be native to Australia, where it has been 

 known to exist for a great many years, but there can be no doubt that 

 it is also native in New Zealand. There is in New Zealand a plant 

 which grows in very watery swamps and gullies where water habitu- 

 ally lies. This plant is a species of flag, resembling what is called the 

 " CoofersFlag." It grows to a height of some eight or nine feet, and al- 

 ways on the richest soil. The natives call it " Eaufo" and use it exten- 

 sively for lining their houses, and a great variety of other purposes. Its 

 botanical name is Typha angustifolia^ and it has a head very like that of 

 the bulrush, only larger, being about eight inches long. This head, 

 when ripe, bursts out into a fine downy material, and makes a bed as 

 good as feathers, and even softer. The early settlers were very fond 

 of gathering this substance to make their beds of, but there was one 

 drawback in its being infested with disgusting maggots, and the 

 down had to be baked in order to get rid of them. It is now nearly 



