THE POTATO TUBER MOTH. 
13 
Of the size of the smallest [species] terella or of the largest [species] senectella. Head 
whitish, mixed with a little ocherous, brighter on the dorsum. Ocelli I can not per- 
ceive. Antennae gray, lighter on the undersides, with well-defined joints. Palpi 
whitish, second joint flattened, with noticeably channeled bristles, and having a gray 
efflorescence on the outer sides near the end. Third joint more than half as long as 
the second, awl-shaped, finely pointed, with a brown spot between the base and middle. 
The four front legs light gray, the outsides dusted with brown, tarsi brown, the joints 
^ /<; //, ; 
w; , ' . 
Fig. 10.— The potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculclla). Greatly enlarged. (Original.) 
with whitish ends. The hind legs pale yellow, the tibiae with small light-colored 
hairs, and the tarsi brownish at the joints. Abdomen yellowish dust-gray, grayish- 
white beneath, the last joint, in the male, as long as one-third of the abdomen, bright 
ocher yellow. Two elliptical, somewhat hollowed disks lying with their hollows 
upon one another. The lower projects somewhat from beneath the upper and is 
clothed on the upper side with a rich covering of somewhat loose-lying hairs, appressed 
above and projecting over the margin. On both sides of the base of the upper disk 
stands an outwardly crumpled brush of hair reaching nearly or quite to the end. In 
the female the anal joint is of 
the usual length, and is of the 
form of a truncated cone, the 
ovipositor slightly projecting. 
Fore-wings 2\ to 2\ '" in 
length, smaller in the male 
than in the female, light gray, 
dusted yellowish gray , particu- 
larly toward the base, in the 
middle pure ocherous. Along 
the middle fold lies a longi- 
tudinal blackish streak, in- 
Above this lie two small blackish dots, 
On the cross- vein is a larger dot, nearly 
Fig. 11. — The potato tuber moth: Natural position at rest. 
Much enlarged. (Original.) 
closed at both ends with whitish dashes, 
the lower nearer the base than the upper 
ringed about with light gray. At the rear margin is an indistinct row of blackish, 
somewhat larger dots. Fringes light gray, inwardly dusted with darker, and espe- 
cially near the tip. 
Hind wings hardly as broad as the fore-wings and with underturned hind fringe, 
bright gray. Fringe longer than the width of the wing, with a yellowish sheen toward 
the base. The entire underside uniform gray. 
