454 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 11 
garden webworm ( Loxostege similalis), as will be seen by reference to 
pi. 16, fig. 1 , b, c, d. It is also of a similar color, which may best be de¬ 
scribed as dirty gray, with a dull reddish or purplish tinge. 
The pupa (e) measures about half an inch in length, and just before 
the issuance of the moth is very dark brown, nearly black, the empty 
pupal skin being pale yellowish brown. 
References to technical descriptions will presently be furnished. 
Distribution 
The list of localities from which we have received this insect and 
from which it is already recorded shows general distribution from 
New Jersey westward to Illinois and Kansas, and southward to Texas. 
The exact localities known are as follows: Bordentown, N. J.; Wash¬ 
ington, D. C.; Urbana and Champaign, Ill.; St. Louis and Kirkwood, 
Mo.; Lawrence and Onaga, Kan., and Hockley, Tex. 
History 
This species came under the observation of Dr. C. V. Riley in its* 
larval stage in the year 1876 in galls, evidently lepidopterous, on the 
so-called slender pink Persicaria, ( Polygonum incarnatum). Moths 
from this lot began issuing May 29, continuing to June 6. The local¬ 
ity is not specifically mentioned, but it was undoubtedly St. Louis, 
Mo., as Dr. Riley was stationed there that year. 
We have received larvse from Miss M. E. Murtfeldt which were 
found boring in the stems of Eupatorium at Kirkwood, Mo.; also 
moths from the same source labelled October 9, 1884. In the biologi¬ 
cal collection of the National Museum is a moth reared from the stems 
of the wild water pepper ( Polygonum hydropiperoides ). 
The first recorded description of the habits of this species is that by 
D. W. Coquillett in 1880. 1 The larva is there described under the 
name Botis genitalis Grote, with the statements that it “ feeds on In¬ 
dian hemp ( Apocynum cannabinum) , ” that it “ lives in a nest of leaves 
which are fastened together with silken threads/’ and that the species 
“assumes the chrysalis form in its nest.” 
An account of this species is also given by C. A. Hart, 2 in which 
mention is made of the occurrence of the larva in the large receptacles 
of Nelumbo lutea , and of its having been reared from larvse boring in 
the stems of Polygonum incarnatum near Urbana, Ill. This account 
is accompanied by technical descriptions of the larva, pupa, cocoon, 
and imago, with notes on the insect’s life habits. 
1 Can. Ent., Vol. XII, p. 45. The description furnished of the larva shows con¬ 
siderable disagreement with what we now know to be penitalis, and it is probable 
that some other species was under observation. 
2 Bu 1 . III., State Lab. Nat. History, Vol. IV, pp. 180-183, 1895. 
