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SUGARCANE BORER 1 
The infestation in 1931 "by the sugarcane moth "borer ( Diatrae a sac- 
charaiis Fab.) was rather unusual. After the mild winter of 1930-31, this 
pest showed every sign of a rapid development and a heavy infestation. A 
cool spring, however, delayed the development, and for a while it seemed 
that the infestation would be very slight. The cool spring was followed 
"by a hot summer, and the infestation increased rapidly. The final status 
was determined as usual during the "grinding season," in the fall, and it 
was then found that the infestation was very spotted, ranging from prac- 
tically nothing in some fields (l uer cent of' the stalks bored) to every 
stalk bored in other fields. Ninety-one fields, fairly well distributed 
over the "sugar parishes" of Louisiana, were inspected, and the average 
stalk infestation was found to be 55.6 per cent. The joint infestation 
varied, accordingly, from practically no damage to serious damage. A 
noteworthy finding was the scarcity of the egg parasite Tricho gramma minu- 
tum Riley. Even during the "grinding season, " when practically all the 
eggs are usually parasitized, many heavily infested field's seemed to have 
none of these narasites. 
TIGER MOTHS 
An unusual and very severe attack of one of the tiger mo-ths ( Auantesis 
-phyllira Erury) was reported during April and May from so nth- central Ten- 
nessee. In Lincoln County alone it was estimated that 500 acres of corn 
were destroyed and many pastures completely stripped of vegetation. - The last 
adults of this brood were seen in the field on June 5. On June 23, what 
appeared to be second-brood larvae were observed in this region. By July 
15 most of the larvae had pupated and moths appea-red from July 7 to 27. 
Second-brood larvae did very considerable damage in Chri stian and Todd 
Counties, Ky. , and Montgomery and Robertson Counties, Tenn. During August 
third-brood larvae appeared and the first pupae of this brood were taken 
in the field August 28 in Marshall County, Tenn. On September 24, what 
appeared to be fourth-brood larvae were observed in the vicinity of Clarks- 
ville in northern Tennessee. S. A. Forbes gave the distribution of A. 
phyllira as extending from Canada and Michigan on the north, westward to 
Colorado and Texas, and apparently southward to the Gulf, and sta-ted that 
it is but two-brooded, the broods aupearing in May and July. In the Sur- 
vey files we have records of this insect in past years attacking tobacco 
in Florida and cotton in Mississippi, and collection records of the insect 
from Connecticut and New Jersey. A. rectilinca French was also involved 
in the outbrea2-c, this suecies also being reported abundant in eastern 
Tennessee. We have no records on the further distribution of A. rectili- 
nea. 
VELVETBEA1T CATERPILLAR 
The velvetbean caterpillar ( Antica.rsia gemmntilis Hbn. ) appeared in 
the Everglades of Florida on June 10, about two weeks earlier than it did 
1 T. E. Holloway and W. E. Haley, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. D. A. 
