1928] 
An Introduced moth 
29 
AN INTRODUCED MOTH ( HELIOTHIS DIPSACEA L.) 
By Fred H. Walker, 
Salem, Mass. 
While looking over the Clark collection of Lepidoptera 
recently acquired by the Boston Society of Natural History, my 
attention was attracted to a single moth bearing the label 
“Heliothis dipsacea L. Europe.” A close examination of the 
moth showed it to be similar to specimens in the author’s collec- 
tion of Essex County, Massachusetts, insects. Fortunately, two 
specimens from Essex County which had been given to the Boston 
Society’s New England collection were conveniently available 
for comparison; this proved that all were undoubtedly of the 
same species. Through the courtesy of Mr. Nathan Banks, 
European specimens in the collection of the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology were examined and the identification confirmed. 
With the assistance of Mr. C. W. Johnson of the Boston 
Society and Mr. A. P. Morse of the Peabody Museum at Salem, 
European literature was consulted, some disagreement as to 
larval characters being noted. Most of the food plants recorded 
are either adventive or naturalized in this country and the in- 
troduction of the moth was probably coincident with the in- 
troduction of some of the food plants; these include toadflax, 
teasel, hawkweed, hawk’s beard and species of dock and plantain. 
Some of the food plants are now widely distributed throughout 
the northeastern United States and it would be interesting to 
know more about the distribution of the moth in this country 
with an accurate description of the larva and its habits. In 
Europe the species is recorded as being widely distributed but 
not common and it is apparently of little economic importance. 
Localities are given as central and southern Europe and Asia, 
northern Africa, Canary Islands and one author (Meyrick) in- 
cludes “N. America.?” 
The moth appears to be rare in the vicinity of Salem, only 
eight specimens having been taken by the author during six 
years of collecting; it has been seen but not taken several times, 
