on the under side of the purslane leaf, either singly or in clusters of from two to five. The larva hatches in two or three days, and FIG. 79.-Pupa and cocoon cell of Copidryas gloveri. is at first light green or yellowish green with darker shading across the middle of the body. In eight or nine days it attains full growth after having passed through four molts. The full grown larva is light gray or dull white with black dashes on the sides of each segment, and with the shadings of salmon pink." "The full-grown larvæ enter the ground for pupation, excavating a tubular burrow in the surface soil, gumming the lining and closing the opening with a The insect remains in thin layer of particles of soil. . The insect is very abundant In the accompanying figures we show the egg, the pupa, and the adult larva and moth. at certain times in Nebraska, Kansas, and the southwestern States generally, and ranges into northern Mexico. It appears to feed exclusively upon purslane, and as this plant is of no particular economic value, but is justly accounted as a troublesome weed, we may wish blessings upon Copidryas gloveri. (2) Copidryas cosyra Druce, Plate XI, Fig. 19, 3. (The Cosyra Moth.) This pretty insect, which belongs to the same genus as the preceding, though assigned α FIG. 8o. Copidryas glovert. a. by the author of the species to the genus Euthisanotia, is found in Arizona and in Mexico. Its habits are undoubtedly very much the same as those of Glover's Purslane Moth, though up to the present time no one has described them. Genus TUERTA Walker Only one species of this genus, which is better represented in Africa than in America, is found within our borders. (1) Tuerta sabulosa Boisduval. Sand-dune Moth.) Syn. noctuiformis Moeschler. (The The moth has the primaries grayish-brown marked with white at the insertion of the wings. The secondaries are bright orangeyellow, with a wide black marginal border, as represented in the cut. The habitat of the insect is Arizona and Mexico. Genus ALYPIA Hübner W.J.K FIG. 81-Tuerta sabulosa, . . This genus is well represented within our territory. The following synopsis of the species is adapted from Hampson: I. (Androloma.) Fore wing of male with a dilation of costa and a groove of ribbed membrane below it from base extending beyond middle. ... ..mac-culloch II. Fore wing of male with a postmedial dilation of costa and groove of ribbed membrane below it; wing elongated. Fore wing with the markings yellow. III. a. b. Fore wing with the markings white.... A. (Alypia.) Fore wing of male without dilation of costal area or grove. Fore and mid tibiæ, orange; hind wings marked with .disparata .brannani .octomaculata .wittfeldi ..dipsaci ...langtoni a. Wings with the spots not traversed by black veins. .mariposa b. Wings with the spots traversed by black veins ...ridingsi (1) Alypia mac-cullochi Kirby, Plate XVII, Fig. 13, . (MacCulloch's Forester.) Syn. lorquini Grote & Robinson; similis Stretch; edwardsi Boisduval, The habitat of this species is Canada and the Rocky Mountains northward to Alaska. (2) Alypia disparata Henry Edwards. (The Mexican Forester.) Syn. gracilenta Græf; desperata Kirby. The structural features of this species are shown in the accompanying cut, for the use of which we are indebted to the kindness of Sir George F. Hampson. The insect occurs in southern Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. The writer has a large series collected for him in the neighborhood of Jalapa, where it is apparently more common than farther north. FIG. 82-Alypia disparata, 3. 1. (After Hampson.) (3) Alypia octomaculata Fabricius, Plate XVII, Figs. 16, 20, 8, Fig. 21, 9. (The Eight-spotted Forester.) Syn. bimaculata Gmelin; quadriguttalis Hübner; matuta Henry Edwards. This very common insect, which sometimes proves a veritable plague by the depredations which it commits upon the foliage of the Ampelopsis, which is extensively grown in our cities as a decorative vine, is found everywhere in the northern Atlantic States, and ranges westward beyond the Mississippi. One good thing which can be set down to the English sparrow is the work, which he has been observed by the writer to do in devouring the larvæ of this moth from the vines with which his home is covered. αν FIG. 83.-Alypia octomaculata. (4) Alypia wittfeldi Henry Edwards, Plate XVII, Fig. 18, 3, Fig. 19, 9. (Wittfeld's Forester.) Sir George F. Hampson sinks this species as a synonym of A. octomaculata, but the writer cannot agree with him in this. The form of the spots on the primaries, the white at the base of the abdomen, and the white annulus near its extremity, are at all events marks quite as characteristic as those by which some other species in the genus are separated. Its habitat is southern Florida. (5) Alypia langtoni Couper, Plate XVII, Fig. 17, 9. (Langton's Forester). Syn. sacramenti Grote & Robinson; hudsonica Henry Edwards. This species ranges from Canada westward through British Columbia into California in the south and Alaska in the north. (6) Alypia mariposa Grote & Robinson, Plate XVIII, Fig. 15. (The Californian Forester.) This, undoubtedly the handsomest species of the genus, is confined to the Pacific coast. (7) Alypia ridingsi Grote, Plate XVII, Fig. 13, 8, Fig. 14, 9. (Ridings' Forester.) A common species in the Rocky Mountain region at high elevations, and ranging northward to Sitka and the valley of the Yukon. Genus ALYPIODES Grote Two species of this genus are Mexican, the third is found in our fauna, though also occurring south of our boundary. (1) Alypiodes bimaculata Herrich-Schæffer, Plate XVII, Fig. 22. (The Two which the hind wing has a yellow spot about the middle of the wing. The insect is fairly common in southern California, New Mexico, and Arizona. "The entomologist need not relax his endeavors day or night. Mothing is night employment."-A. S. PACKARD. SUGARING FOR MOTHS The day has been hot and sultry. The sun has set behind great banks of clouds which are piling up on the northwestern horizon. Now that the light is beginning to fade, the great masses of cumulus, which are slowly gathering and rising higher toward the zenith, are lit up by pale flashes of sheet-lightning. As yet the storm is too far off to permit us to hear the boom of the thunder, but about ten or eleven o'clock to-night we shall probably experience all the splendor of a dashing thundershower. Along the fringe of woodland which skirts the back pastures is a path which we long have known. Here stand long ranks of ancient beeches; sugar maples, which in fall are glorious in robes of yellow and scarlet; ash trees, the tall gray trunks of which carry skyward huge masses of light pinnated foliage; walnuts and butternuts, oaks, and tulip-poplars. On either side of the path in luxuriant profusion are saplings, sprung from the monarchs of the forest, young elm trees planted by the winds, broad-leaved papaws, round-topped hawthorns, viburnums, spreading dogwoods, and here and there in moist places clumps of willows. Where the path runs down by the creek, sycamores spread their gaunt white branches toward the sky, and drink moisture from the shallow reaches of the stream, in which duckweed, arrow-weed, and sweet pond-lilies bloom. The woodland is the haunt of many a joyous thing, which frequents the glades and hovers over the flowers. To-night the lightning in the air, the suggestion of a coming storm which lurks in the atmosphere, will send a thrill through all the swarms, which have been hidden through the day on moss-grown trunks, or among the leaves, and they will rise, as the dusk gathers, in troops about the pathway. It is just the night upon which to take a collecting trip, resorting to the well-known method of "sugaring." Here we have a bucket and a clean whitewash brush. We |