M. T. Smulyan.
Some Observations on the Webbing Clothes Moth (Tineola biselliella Hum.).
Psyche 26:71-72, 1919.

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1919] Smulyan-Observations on the Webbing Clothes Moth 71 ond abdominal segment? as well as in the plainly undivided radial cell and curved discoidal vein in the hind wing. Liobracon cressonii D. T.
Cressony Proc. Ent. SOC. Philadelphia? Vol. 4, p. 75. (1865.)
(Bracon distinctua.)
Dalla Torre? Cat. Hym.? Vol. 4ċ p. 964.
(1898.)
(Bracon cres-
sonii.)
Dr. Mann took this species in Hayti at Cape Haytien? Grand Rivihe and St. Marc.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE mBBING CLOTHES
MOTH (TINEOLA BISELLIELLA HUM.) ?
BY M. T. SMULYAN,
U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Melrose Highlands? Massaehusetts. Two larvz9 7 and 11 mm. long, respectively, discovered working in the writer's overcoat October 26,1917, were placed in a glass jar lined, except at the top? with a layer of gray felt? and placed in his sleeping room where his clothes-closet was locatedy for rearing and observation. The room was then receiving? and continued to do so until well into April? some furnace heat during the day, but was quite cool during the night and early forenoon? when it was freely ventilated. Owing to the writer's regular duties, most of the observations dealiig with the behavior of the larvz were made at the close of the day, by artiċ£icia light-which, as will be seen below, may have had a bearing on the behavior of one of them. October 98, both larvz feeding freely. November ly the smaller within a snbstantial cocoon, at the bottom of the jar. November
2, had moulted-found the cast shell of the head just outside the cocoon, at one end, and the remainder of the skin just outside at the opposite end-but when the jar was brought closer to the light (gas) in order to verify the observationy the larva hurried out of the cocoon and crawled away. November 4? the same individual in the process of constructing another cocoon; the othe~the larger- was still feeding freely. November 7? found the latter encased in a 1 Identity of species verified by Mr. August Buck of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Wash- ington, D. C.




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wmn at the bottom of the jar he& the felt, next to the gk. The underside of the cocoon was incomplete ad the larva waa in part visible through the glass. Novemhr 11, conditions about unchanged. Novembe~ 14, lma within cmmn beneath felt had moulted (skin dispomd as in the mse of the other) ; soon after it be- came comatose and remained so, t~ far as could be obsemd, until the fallowing May, November lR, the remaining and active in&- vidud was stdl at cocoon-making, but this time in still another bxtion-at the bottom of the jm beneath the felt, Novembr 21, could not be located, but when jar was brought clmr to the light to facilitate the observation it came out of me of the previ- ously constructed moons. Kovmbr 25, within a m o ~ or less incomplete new cowma, clam to the one which it fomk the 9ht. November 28, had mvdtd again; came half way out of cocoon during observation but backed in again. Decernbex 2, left coco~n during observation. Dmber 6, again within one of its former mmm, and fomk it while ohmation was d e . December 9, moving about freely. December 15$ ditto. December M* within a rather loosely-mstn~cted cocoon on botbm of jar, beneath felt, like its CUNMLW companion. December 19, cmn more dense, December 24, had moulted once rno+&ird time since its conhemmt, December 30- apparently comatose. Both lam, it should be said at this point, mouItd once, in addi- tion, afim they had apparently become torpid, just when the miter mmot say, the ca& skim, evidencing this, being found in the cocmnmt the hinder ends-the followhg ~pring, after the emergen= of the adults. It is intemting to note that in the final moult the cephalic portion of the skin remains attached to the m~t of the skin; the dorsal or upper surface of the former splits medimly and longitudimlly and the larva either wriggles out* or else pushes the skin off over its anal end. The interior of the cocoons me lined with white silk
The moth which developed from the more active larva emersd first md proved to be a male* It was fir& okmd May 14 (lN8). It died May 93. The other moth (fernah) emerged between May 94, md May $26. 1x1 both awes, the empty pupal skin projected in greater part beyond the end of the cocoon, m figud by Riley (Ins. Life, II, 1890).
Eggs were observed June 9, a. m., and they were numerous then.



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19191 Traver-Lepdopterous Genus Depressaria '73 None were observed May 31.
Oviposition continued to June 8,
p. m., at the latest, and the total number counted was 99-51 up to June 2, a.m., 41 between 2, a. m. and 4, p.m., 7 between 4, p. m. and 8, p. m. They were laid on the less compact or looser surface of the felt, and some were placed quite deeply among the loose fibers. Evidently they are not always placed singly, for in one instance a group of four was found, and several occurred in pairs. The moth died the evening of June 9.
The eggs (infertile in this
case) were white to the unaided eye and under an ordinary hand lens, but practically colorless when magnified more highly; oval to ovoid in shape, but a few were somewhat reniform, resembling a type of bean; surface somewhat roughened, marked with nearly spherical, squarish, or elongate shallow depressions, with very narrow intervening ridges. Whether the roughened surface, and the subreniform shape, was due to the age of the eggs-for on June 9, when they were examined, a large proportion had already collapsed-the writer cannot say, although, he might state, it did not appear so.
Eighteen were measured and were found to be .49 to .66 mm. long and ,527 to -34 mm. wide. The longest were
generally the broadest.
The present record, it might be added, adds to the accumulating evidence, seemingly, that this species rather than Tinea pellionella Linn. (the case-making moth) is the more common species in the North.
How is the marked difference in degree of activity and sensitivity manifested by the larvz to be explained? Is it a matter of indi- viduality? Or, in view of the resulting difference in sex, is it a .
matter of sex?
ECOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE LEPIDOPTEROUS GENUS DEPRESSARIA ((ECOPHORIDE) .
BY MISS JAY R. TRAVER,
Department of Entomology, Cornell University. The members of a group of animals or plants, closely allied to one another in a systematic sense, may yet differ rather widely in their habits of life, While fitted for the same general type of environ- ment, they nevertheless show considerable variation in their adap-



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