377 
able to follow the larvae of Pronuba yuccasella in their journey from 
the capsules of Yucca Jilamentosa to the ground. The observation is 
noteworthy for the reason that this point has been up to the present 
time the only break in the life-history of Pronuba. Mr. Whitten found 
that, as had been anticipated by Prof. Riley, the larvae leave the cap- 
sules during rainy weather, when the ground is softened and con- 
sequently easily penetrable. They do this, however, either during the 
daytime or at night, and not exclusively during the end of the night, 
as had been predicted by Riley. The larva issues from the capsule 
and drops quickly down at the end of a silken thread. 
NOTES ON THE EUROPEAN LEOPARD MOTH. 
Mr. Henry Herpers, a member of the Entomological Society of 
Newark, N. J., sends samples of the work of Zeuzera pyrina cut from 
a branch of Acer dasycarpum which was blown from the tree by an 
April storm. In an accompanying letter he directs attention to a num- 
ber of interesting facts in the economy of the species. In all the twigs 
sent the larva had been working upward instead of the reverse, as men- 
tioned by Machesney (Ent. Am., vol. vi, p. 36). One of these, meas- 
uring but three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and within which it 
would seem impossible for the larva to complete its growth, appears to 
indicate that the larva after attaining a certain size must forsake its 
original habitation for a larger branch or perish. 
He mentions also some facts that have already been noted by others, 
viz, the excessive superabundance of males and the attractiveness of 
electric light for the species. This insect, it will be remembered, was 
not known with certainty to have established itself in this country 
until 1887. During the following year Mr. Herpers thinks that of 
several hundred taken about Newark not a half dozen were females. 
In 1892, however, he noticed in one evening several scores of the females 
that had been crushed under the electric lights by passing pedestrians, 
the large pink egg-masses furnishing proof of the sex. 
A LEAF-CHAFER ATTACKING PETUNIAS. 
Mr. J. S. Strayer, of Port Republic, Va., an old correspondent of the 
Division, sends specimens of the Scarabaeid, Anomala undulata Mels. 
(varians Fab.), with the information that they damage a number of cul- 
tivated flowers, particularly petunias. He writes, under date of June 
23, 1894, that they eat into the flower to the heart, burying themselves 
nearly out of sight. They work rapidly, and it requires only a short 
time to riddle and destroy a flower. On some blossoms as many as 
twenty beetles were found. They appeared to show a marked prefer- 
ence for white flowers. 
This species is known to be somewhat omnivorous in the adult state, 
and an account of damage to wheat is given in the report of the Ento- 
