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224

Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society

Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 32(3), 1978, 224

A NEW WEEDY HOST FOR THE BUCKEYE, PRECIS COENIA (NYMPHALIDAE)

The Buckeye, Precis coenia Hbn., is an opportunistic, oligophagous species hitherto recorded from several genera of the plant families Verbenaceae, Plantaginaceae, and Scrophulariaceae in North America. In the Sacramento Valley of lowland central California it feeds on two species of Lippia (Verbenaceae) and one of Plantago (Plantaginaceae) (Shapiro 1974, J. Res. Lepid. 13: 120) while in the nearby Vaca Hills it occurs on Diplacus (Scrophulariaceae) and at mid-elevations on the Sierran west slope on Penstemon azureus Benth. (Scrophulariaceae). In the San Francisco Bay area it has been found on garden snapdragons (Antirrhinum), an introduced scroph. On 17 September 1977 an infestation of fifth-instar larvae, probably from a single colonization event, was found on large mats of fluellin, Kickxia spuria (L.) Dumort, growing in cracks in an abandoned roadway at Davis, Yolo Co., California. This Mediterranean scroph is closely related to toadflax (Linaria) and to snapdragon and occurs sporadically in lowland California as a pavement and roadside weed. In captivity the larvae ate leaves, buds, flowers and fruit freely. No recorded hosts of any plant family could be found within 30 m of the infested plants. Adult P. coenia were present.

Fluellin is a prostrate perennial plant with cordate, dull green, pubescent leaves less than 1 cm long. The flowers, which are open mostly in the morning, are snapdragonlike, with a long spur; they are purple and bright yellow and about 1 cm long. The stems, which may be 50 cm long, form tangled mats up to a meter across.

Arthur M. Shapiro, Department of Zoology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 32(3), 1978, 224

A SECOND LOCALITY FOR EULYTHIS MELLINATA (GEOMETRIDAE) IN NORTH AMERICA

While identifying some Nova Scotian moths for James Edsall of Halifax, a specimen of Eulythis was examined which resembled no species known to occur in the province. A check on the identity of the specimen at the Nova Scotia Museum showed it represents a Palearctic species, Eulythis mellinate F. (South, 1972, The Moths of the British Isles, Warne, London, 379 p.), a new provincial record and the second locality in North America where this moth has been collected. Sheppard (1975, Ann. Entomol. Soc. Quebec 20: 7) recorded this species from Laval, Quebec, under the name associata Borkh.

Eulythis mellinata is a widespread Palearctic species. In Europe and Britain the larvae feed on red and black currant (Ribes rubrum L. & R. nigrum L.). Mr. Sheppard informs me that this species has probably become established on Mountain (Alpine) currant (Ribes alpinum L.) hedges in the vicinity of his home at Laval, Quebec.

The Nova Scotian specimen is a fresh female and was collected on 31 July 1972 at light in Armdale, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Other captures have been recorded in North