58 SOME INSECTS INJUKIOUS TO TRUCK CROPS. 
Feeds on the Poke, Careless, &c. It went into the ground July the 5th, and 
came out the 16th. I once met this caterpillar in such abundance, that among 
a great quantity of Poke plants there was scarcely a single leaf untouched ; 
most of these caterpillars, however, were fly-blown by a kind of Ichneumon. 
The moth is rare. 
This is allied to our Ph. frugiperda and Commelinw. Between the under 
wings of all these there is the greatest affinity. Their pupae too are of a 
similar bright red color, and their smooth-striped caterpillars have much 
resemblance to each other. 
KECENT INJURIES AND BIOLOGIC NOTES. 
On May 14, 1907, this species was observed on the leaves of tomato 
in the truck garden of Mr. C. M. Berry, at Orlando, Fla., where it 
was eating holes in the leaves. Numbers of plants, here and there, 
were infested and in most cases the entire plant was injured. The 
same larva was observed on pokeweed {Phytolacca decandra), and 
afterwards on spiiry amaranth {Amaranthus spinosus) . By May 20 
the larvae were scattering and had grown rapidly, some being an 
inch long. While young, these larva? feed on the underside of the 
leaf, but with larger growth some were noticed feeding on the upper 
surface as well. 
May 24 an egg-mass was found on a leaf of the spiny amaranth, 
laid in two sections on the under surface, one on each side of the 
midrib. One mass had hatched at this time and the larvae were be- 
ginning to eat pinlike holes through the leaf. 
On July 3 a field of Irish potatoes was found to be very badly in- 
fested bj these larvae. They were now nearly full-grown and had 
stripped the potato vines, many being observed crawling away from 
the field in all directions. On one side the} 7 infested a garden at 
least 600 feet away, and were feeding upon eggplant, pepper, okra, 
and castor-oil plants. 
Some interesting notes were made on the abundance of this species 
in this potato field. On a single young plant of Amaranthus, 41 
larvae were counted, and as many as 314 on a plant measuring 6 feet 
in height. A careful estimate of the larvae on 10 plants of careless 
weed, not over 6 feet in height, gave a total of 1,300 individuals. 
(See fig. 9.) 
To illustrate the voracity of these larvae, where any potatoes were 
exposed, they were soon covered by the larvae and the entire contents 
eaten out so that they were rendered worthless in about ten minutes. 
About this same date, July 3, the larvae were reported making quick 
work of amaranth; whenever a branch became broken from any 
cause, larvae entered at the break and excavated tunnels several 
inches in length. Pokeweed was entirely stripped of leaves, the 
stalks and the shoots being eaten off at the outer end. Potatoes dug 
