Article beginning on page 295.
Psyche 5:295-298, 1888.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/5/5-295.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

January iw.1 PS TCHE. 295
past summer, in explorations for the
Geological survey, I found that the
strata of a considerable tract of country, certainly many, probably hundreds of Ì
square miles in extent, lying in western Colorado and eastern Utah, were packed
with fossil insects as closely as at Flor- issant, where they occupy a lake basin
of relatively small proportions : whether these new localities will excel or even
equal that place in the variety of their fossil treasures, is yet to be determined ; but there can hardly be any doubt that
we shall soon be able in our western
territories to rehabilitate successive
faunas as successfully as has been done
with many of' our vertebrate types, and
as has not yet been done for insects in any country in the world. Nor are we
confined to our later beds; insect de-
posits have now been found in a score
of places in our extensive carboniferous series, and it is in no way improbable
that we may find our own Commentry
to double the value of the French dis-
covery. What we really need is a score
of trained workers to "go in and pos-
sess the land." No one would welcome
them more heartily than one who is
almost a solitary worker in the Ameri-
can field.
THE AMERICAN PLUM BORER 'EUZOPHERA SEMI-FUNERALIS' WALK.
BY STEPHEN AT.FRED FORBES, CHAMPAIGN. 11.1,. Although various boring insects have
occasionally attacked the plum, these
have been species whose principal inju-
ries are done to other trees, and no dis- tinctive plum borer has hitherto been
known in this country. Among these
incidentals enemies are the peach borer
( Sannina exitiosa) the flat-headed
apple-tree borer ( Chrysobothris femo-
ratu) the so-called pear-blight beetle
(XyZeborus fyri), and one of the twig
borers (Elaphidion villosum) , Sotne-
what recently a newly imported Europe-
an bark beetle, Scolytus r~~gdosus. has
attacked a variety of fruit trees, the plum among them, but by none of these insects has any constant and serious injury been done to the latter fruit, so far as I am now aware.
In a species first described
(in this country) in 1887, and whose
immature stages have remained un-
known until the present time, we have
our first example of a borer devoted, so far as now known, to the plum alone.
This species was first reported to me
as injurious 21 August 1887, in a letter from Farmingdale, Sangamon county,
Illinois, accompanied by a few borers
found in young Chinese plum trees
(Prunus simoni), one of which was
nearly killed by them.
The attack was described as most
general near the forks of the trees,
especially at the bases of the lower limbs, but the larvae were sometimes found an
inch, or less, within the earth. The




================================================================================

296 ~ ~ 2 T ~ . [January 1%.
smaller ones were near the surface of the bark, sometimes just under the thin
outer film ; but others were next the
wood. As many as fifty were taken
from a single tree, the bark here being
killed in large irregular patches.l
Living borers received 3 November
were about half 'an inch in length, of a greenish dusky color, with only a few
scattered hairs springing from small
dark specks. The head was reddish
brown, with a darker triangular patch
in the middle, and the top of the first
segment behind the head, the cervical
shield so called, varied from yellowish
to pitchy, more or less shaded with
brown, but with a median yellow patch.
This borer has, of course, the three
pairs of legs and the fleshy prolegs (ten in number) of the caterpillar. From
the peach borer, whose structure is
similar, it may be distinguished by its
dusky color (the other being white),
its smaller size when full grown, and,
with a glass, by the hooks on the prolegs. In the peach borer the ends of the soft
stump-like prolegs are provided with
small brown hooks, arranged in two
opposite curves discontinuous at their
ends, each of a single row; while in
the new plum borer the corresponding
hooks form a complete ring, nearly
covering the end of the leg.
Kept in a breeding cage and supplied
with the chips and twigs of the plum
trees, our larvae spun sm:ill webs in
I have found mention of the larval habits of only two other species of this genus (both exotic), one (E. cinerosella) living on wormwood (Artemisia), in Eu- rope, and the other (E. zeilerella) hied from dates. which they passed the winter.
By 3
May a part of them had pupated, and
28 and 29 May two winged moths2
emerged, all the others failing.
These moths were small grey insects,
the extended wings measuring about
eight-tenths ofan inch. The fore wings
were reddish behind (within) ; the
hind wings were plain.
Other moths of this species were
taken several times at the electric light in 1886, 1887, and 1888, the dates of
their occurrence ranging from 5 May to
24 August. The greater part, however,
were collected in May and June, and
this is doubtless the period ofthe greatest prevalence of the winged form. The
time and place of oviposition are
unknown.
In brief, the species is apparently
single-brooded ; passes the winter as a
larva in the tree ; pupates in May ;
emerges in May and June, and may con-
tinue to lay eggs through July and Aug-
ust.
DESCRIPTION.
ha.-The general appearance of
this larva is that of a dusky somewhat
hairy caterpillar. paler beneath, with
reddish brown head, darker in the mid-
dle, and variegated cervical shield.
Principal hairs conspicuously long and
slender. The head is brown, with a
lateral black blotch behind the eyes,
smooth, much darker on the slightly .
depressed frontal area, this bordered by depressed black sutures, outside which,
at a little distance, is a V-shaped fine 2 Determined as above by Prof. C. H. Fernald.



================================================================================

January 1890.1 f's TCHl!?. 297
white line. Antennae three-jointed ;
first joint very large, broadly conical ; second thick, oval, with a very long
stout hair at outer side of tip ; the third minute. OceZZi five, black, placed
behind the antennae in a curve opening
downward.
Labrum broadly emarginate, with
rounded lobes. Maxillae and labium
pale beneath, with dark sutures strongly contrasting with adjacent parts
of the
head. Mala andpalpi brown. Labial
palpi minute. ~.PIaxiZIary palpi three-
jointed, large ; first joint nearly as thick as the jaZjiger, and about as broad as
long ; second joint cylindrical, width
two thirds the length ; third joint taper- ing, about two thirds as long as the
second.
Body with six conspicuous rows of
long pale hairs, longest on the posterior segments, one hair of each row to each
segment, each borne on a minute black
pilifesous tubercle scarcely as large as the spiracle. One row above spiracles,
another equally distant below, and two
subdorsal rows. Other smaller hairs
irregularly distributed.
Cervical shield yellow, smooth, with
a few scattered hairs and two curved
brown blotches, one on each side, separ- ated by a yellow median spot. Anal
plate coriaceous, brown, heart-shaped,
with six long stout hairs at its posterior margin. Posterior segments without




================================================================================

PSYCHE.
spines or tubercles at hinder margin,
differing here from the peach borer.
Spiracles black, nearly circular, anterior pair but little larger than the remaining eight, last pair not exceeding the eighth in size.
Thoracic legs pale reddish brown ex-
ternally, paler within, with dusky tips. Each proleg except the last pair with
a complete close circlet of large hooks, and several smaller ones besides, and
also a horny black central disk or tubercle within the ring. Last pair with a single half circlet of very strong close-set
hooks.
Imuso. -Expanse 20 to 25 mix.
Head and thorax dusky gray with
bright bronze reflection. Abdomen
similar, and also brightly bronzed, but
with edges of segments pale. Fore
wings light gray, with brownish red
and black markings. Posterior two
thirds of basal field brownish red, with scattered reddish scales along the costa also, the reddish tint deepest along the middle of the wing. Basal line near
the middle of the wing white, sometimes
obsolete posteriorly, making, when
complete, two external and three internal angles. Middle field black mixed with
gray except at posterior margin, where
it is largely suffused with reddish brown. White scales usually forming distinct
discal spots, in one case broadly ringed with black. Outer line variable ; when
distinct, with two internal and one
external angles. Comn~only distinctly
bordered with black within, and follow-
ed without by a reddish shade (except
near costa, where this merges in black,
which is broadly bordered by light gray). A marginal black line, commonly
broken by veins. Fringe dusky, with
white line at base. Hind wings smoky,
with black marginal line and dusky
veins, and fringe with white basal line
followed by a dusky band, beyond
which it is paler. Surface of hind wings considerably bronzed, the fore wings
less so. Beneath, wings fuscous bronz-
ed. Outer field of fore wings somewhat
paler, hind wings gradually darkening
outward.
Antennae dark ; proboscis gray ;
palpi dusky bronzed.
Described from twelve Illinois
specimens.
Distribution ; Colombia, S. A. (Zel-
ler), Florida, Texas, Coloiado, Utah,
Washing ton. Pretty general throngh-
out the eastern United States and
Canada.- Hulst.
LITERATURE. ,
Fhe species was first described in
I 863 as Ne$hopte~yx semi- f meralis
by Walker in the British Museum cata-
logue, part 27, p. 58 ; and again in 1882, according to a note kindly sent me by
Mr. Hulst, as Ezizophe~a WetcUci,




================================================================================

January 1890.j pLY2THE. 299
Zeller,l this description being based on specimens from Colombia, S. A. In
this country it was described by Hulst
in 1887 in Enton~ologica Americana
(v. 3 p. 137) as Ste-ycha $aZ/?d-
ella.
The original description of the genus
was given by Heinernann under the
name Stenojtycha, in 1865, in his work
on the lepidoptera of Germany and
Swit~erland,~ but as this generic name
1 Hor. SOC. ent. ross., 1882, v. 16, p. 234. 2 Die schmetterlinge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, 1865, p. 190.
was preoccupied by Zeller,l the genus
was rechristened MeZia by Heineman,
on a later page of the same Melia
proved, however, also to be preoccupied3 as noted by Zeller in 1867'. and the cur- rent Euzophera was then finally pro-
posed.
- - - - - -
1 Entom. zeitung Stettin. 1863, p. 154. Zeller's use, of this name for a genus ofpterophoridae is also illegiti- mate, as it has already been applied by Agassiz to a Medusa (Contr. nat. hist.United States, 1862,~. 2,p. 149) 2 2. c., p. 209.
3 Used previously in muscidae, pyralidae, crustacea, mollusca and botany.
Entoni. zeitung Stettin, 1867. p. 377.
DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW NORTH AMERICAN MOTHS. BY WILLIAM BEUTENMULLER, NEW YORK.
DATANA MODESTA, n. sp.
Head and thoracic patch yellowish
ochreous, remaining parts of thorax
rusty brown. Primaries rusty brown
with a small, elongated, discal spot on
the middle of the wing and another
smaller spot before the middle. About
the apical fourth of the wing is an ill- defined, transverse, curved band a
little darker than the ground color.
Beyond this band the wing assumes a
purplish brownish color. Secondaries
much paler than the primaries. Body
above yellowish ochreous, beneath pale
ochreous. Secondaries beneath pale
ochreous, primaries somewhat darker.
Expanse 48 nlm. I 3. Hab. Kissim-
inee, Florida, May, Type Collection,
Chas. Palm.
Allied to D. floridana, but differing
from it by having the thoracic patch
yellowish ochi-eous, and by the absence
of the two 'additional transverse bands. DATANA PALMII, 11. Sp.
Head and thoracic patch deep vel-
vety brown, remaining parts of thorax
cinnamon brown, mixed with whitish
scales. Primaries cinnamon brown
(in one specimen nearly as deep in
color as D. anynsii) and thickly cov-
ered with whitish scales so as to nearly obscure the ground color. Across the
wing are four narrow, transverse bands
same as the ground color. The first on
the bawl fourth, oblique ; the second a
little before the middle slightly curved ; the third a little beyond the middle and



================================================================================