December, ’18] 
CHITTENDEN: LOTUS BORER 
453 
THE LOTUS BORER 
By F. H. Chittenden, Entomologist in Charge, Truck Crop Insect Investigations, 
United States Department of Agriculture 
The resemblance of the lotus borer to the recently introduced Euro¬ 
pean cornstalk-borer (Pyrausta nubilalis Hiibn.) is so close that the 
two species are apt to be mistaken for each other. It has, therefore, 
been thought advisable to bring together an account of the former 
from notes which the writer accumulated some years ago. 
When this common pyraustine moth was given its specific name, 
Pyrausta penitalis Grote, a statement was made, from Prof. F. H. 
Snow, who supplied specimens from Lawrence, Kan., as follows: 
“Common; feeds upon the ‘receptacle’ of the Western Water-lily 
(Nelumbium luteum ).” 
' This was in 1876. 1 Since that time the insect has several times come 
under notice as an enemy of this plant. 
Some years ago the writer observed the larva in considerable num¬ 
bers in raspberry canes. As about 40 per cent of the canes contained 
larvae, it was naturally supposed that the species might prove a pest, 
more especially as we had also received larvae boring in cornstalks. 
The result of studies of the insect’s habits shows conclusively, however, 
that the hypothesis that it might do serious injury to other plants 
than the lotus was unfounded. A number of unrecorded observations, 
however, have been made, and these, with the Bureau of Entomology 
notes on the insect’s life history, add considerably to our store of 
knowledge of this species. No extended article on this insect has been 
published so far as the writer is aware. 
Description 
The moth is pale yellow, and has been described as pale clear luteous, 
varying to ferruginous reddish luteous, with all intervening shades. 
The distinctness of the markings as shown in the accompanying fig¬ 
ures (PL 16, figs. 1 and 2) has led to the species being described'under a 
synonymical name. In faintly marked individuals the zigzag and 
other lines of both primary and secondary wings are very faint; in 
the darkest forms they are strong. The wing expanse is between three- 
fourths and one and one-tenth of an inch. 
The larva when full-grown measures about an inch (25 mm.) in 
length. It is nearly cylindrical, being slightly depressed. It is 
marked with dark piliferous tubercles somewhat like the common 
1 Grote, A. R. Can. Entom., May, 1876, pp. 98, 99. 
