20 PAPERS ON INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETABLES. 
but is a little more definite in the dark forms. Near the anterior 
margin of the forewings there are three rather conspicuous black 
dots, one near the. middle and one each side. The underside of the 
wings is paler and somewhat similar to the upper. The eyes are dark 
brown, nearly black. The abdomen is darker than the wings, and 
there are two black spots on the anterior margin of the third abdominal 
segment. The legs are long and slender. The total length of the 
body is less than one-half inch (12 mm.) and the wing expanse is 
about 1 inch (22 to 26 mm.). 
The egg. — The egg is of irregular, short, oval outline, and consider- 
ably flattened upon the surface on which it is deposited. The color 
is pale yellowish, which looks green, owing to its semi transparence, 
permitting the color of the leaf to show through. The surface is 
finely reticulated, and under a high-power microscope is seen to be 
composed of minute, very irregular, moderately depressed areas, 
chiefly hexagonal and pentagonal in outline. The surface is rather 
strongly iridescent and glistens, presenting the appearance of a fish 
scale in miniature. Length, 0.6 mm.; width, 0.45 mm. 
Eggs obtained in confinement, May 26, were deposited singly on 
the underside of beet leaves. Mr. Marsh also observed the eggs on 
the underside of amaranth leaves at Brownsville, Tex., June 22, 1909. 
The larva. — The larva (fig. 3, b, c) is slender, cylindrical, and in the 
arrangement of the piliferous tubercles resembles Loxostege similalis 
Guen. and L. obliteralis Walk. The tubercles are not conspicuous in 
living specimens, but become prominent in preserved material. The 
color of the larva is dark, dirty green, with dark, mottled brown-and- 
black, or nearly black, head and thoracic plate, the latter widely sepa- 
rated at the middle. The dorsal piliferous tubercles are large and 
black, the two pairs being closely jointed. The remaining tubercles are 
large and infuscated, the dorsal ones transverse and arranged in two 
pairs, one pair on each segment. The tubercles of the last segment 
form a central plate, with a lateral one each side, in front of the larger 
anal plate. When boiled for preservation the larva becomes perfectly 
white, bringing into prominence the rings of tubercles which com- 
pletely encircle each segment. The length of the larva when full 
grown is about three-fourths of an inch (19-20 mm.), and the width 
3 3 2 to J of an inch (2.5-3 mm). 
The pupa. — The pupa (fig. 3, d) is mahogany-brown, moderately 
slender, with the anterior extremity rounded, and the posterior pro- 
longed into a bill-shaped cremaster, armed at the end with four very 
fine hooks, one lateral and two apical pairs, their tips strongly 
recurved. The abdominal segments are without spines. The length 
is about two-fifths of an inch (10 mm.). 
The species is a pyralid and is placed in our lists next to Loxostege. 
It bears some resemblance to Loxostege similalis, but is considerably 
larger. 
