321 
American ally of the Apple Codling Moth, was first described by Lord 
Walsingham from probably captured specimens from California, sent 
to the British Museum. It was placed in the genus Carpocapsa, with 
which the two available specimens, both females, seemed to sufficiently 
well agree. It was, however, subsequently ascertained that this 
description, from a single sex, failed to include certain peculiar and 
important characters pertaining to the males, namely the mat of spatu- 
late scales near the inner margin of the under sides of the hind- wings 
and a brush-like tufting of the hind shanks and feet. These charac- 
ters, with others, were defined by Dr. Eiley in a paper published in the 
Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science (vol. iv, 1881), and 
were considered so divergent from those of any other Carpocapsa as to 
call for the erection of the new genus Melissopus — from two Greek 
words signifying " bee-footed" and most applicable to the densely- 
tufted hind tibise and tarsi of the males. 
Dr. Riley's paper contained no account of the habits of the insect 
beyond the statement that it was "bred from acorns, either as a borer 
or an inquiline," nor, so far as I am aware, has any description of its 
immature stages ever been published. It is a true acorn feeder, almost 
contemporaneous in its different stages of development with Balani- 
nus. The moths, like the beetles, are very irregular in date of appear- 
ance, beginning to emerge in May and continuing to do so until August. 
They are not attracted to lam}) light and must be, I think, very rarely 
observed in the open air. Early in September last, between five and 
six o'clock in the afternoon, I noticed one on an acorn, possibly sta- 
tioned for oviposition, but on my nearer approach for the purpose of a 
better view, although done with the utmost caution, the insect was dis- 
turbed and flitted away. This is the only one I have ever seen out of 
doors. The eggs are, in all probability, pushed just under the edge of 
the cup and the young larva? find no difficulty in making their way 
through the most penetrable part of the shell. They begin feeding 
around the outside of the cotyledons and do not for sometime interfere 
with the ripening of the fruit. 
The full grown larvte vary in length from 10 to 20 mm , and the corresponding 
diameter is from 2 to 4 mm ; form almost cylindrical throughout; color dingy white 
with pale, grayish-brown, glossy maculse, from which arise very short and fine 
light hairs. These piliferous spots are largest on the posterior segments and the 
two dorsal ones often become confluent on the eleventh segment, forming a trans- 
verse, oblong band, on each side of which is a somewhat larger and darker plate. 
Laterally the spots are arranged one directly above and one below the stigmata. 
Head rather small, only about one-half the general diameter, bright golden brown, 
with fuscous trophi. Cervical collar entirely covering dorsum of first segment, 
glossy, dark brown, especially on lateral margins, pale in medio-dorsal space. Legs 
pale gray-brown ; pads of prolegs similarly colored, all very short. Anal shield 
small, rounded-triangular, clouded, pale brown. 
One acorn seldom suffices for the nourishment of a larva, and it cuts 
its way out of the first and into the second of a cluster through the 
scales of the cups near the base where the acorns approach each other 
