THE SPOTTED BEET WEBWOEM. I 
and was told by the gardener that this moth evidently belonged to a 
small larva which was doing great damage to the leaves of several 
varieties of Alternanthera grown in boxes and pots in the green- 
house. It was also observed that the larva? worked mainly at night 
and that they concealed themselves during the daytime between the 
roots of these plants at the bottom of the pot. 
November 27, 1909, Dr. H. T. Fernald sent specimens of this spe- 
cies for identification that had been received from Cuba. 
November 15, 1910, Mr. D. K. McMillan, while working under the 
writer's direction at Brownsville. Tex., collected the larva? of this 
species on Amaranthus and beets in that vicinity. The larva? were 
attacking the leaves and flowers of both plants and webbing the 
leaves and stems. Moths were very numerous on December 6 of the 
same year, a few larva? still being found on the food plants men- 
tioned. Parasites were reared from larva? taken November 15. 
April 11, 1912, Prof. Glenn AY. Herrick, of Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., sent specimens of the moth with report that they were 
reared from larva? found very abundantly in a greenhouse in Brook- 
lyn, N. Y r ., and that they were especially bad on Alternanthera. 
Mr. John June Davis has forestalled the writer in publishing an 
article on this same species, which he terms the Alternanthera worm. 
He records that in 1910 this species was found eating the foliage of 
the variegated border plant Alternanthera. and states, what the writer 
has also noted, that if the larva? are numerous enough to attract at- 
tention they usually defoliate the plant repeatedly as new shoots 
and leaves put forth, thus ruining it for ornamental purposes and 
sometimes killing it. The article includes descriptive matter, notes 
on habits, and suggestions as to remedial measures, among which 
arsenicals, hand picking, and light traps are especially mentioned. 
ASSOCIATED INSECTS. 
THE YELLOW-NECKED FLEA-BEETLE. 1 
(Disonycha mellicollis Say.) 
October 8, 1912, the writer observed, in a badly infested plat not 
previously examined in Iowa Circle, Washington City, about 20 indi- 
viduals of the yellow-necked flea-beetle (Disonycha mellicollis Say) 
congregated in a space of less than a square foot. They were in a 
warm place, the sunlight was strong, and hence they could all have 
escaped, though they could have been captured that evening. The 
writer captured enough specimens to be sure of the species, although 
this insect can be readily separated from osanthamelcena in life some- 
x See also Bui. 82, Pt. II, Bur. Ent.. U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 29-32, 1909. 
