Three western species of tussock moths of the genus Orgyia are all susceptible to infection by the same two nuclear polyhedrosis viruses. An eastern species of Orgyia is also affected by these viruses. In the Western States, the natural occurrence of the two viruses appears to be limited to definite geographic areas. Infectivity of the viruses for hosts outside the genus Orgyia is not known. One report of such cross-infectivity could not be substantiated. Bodies which appear to be composed of viral materials but which are not normal virus particles are sometimes found occluded in polyhedra.
The first known and only published instance of a granulosis of an insect in the Western Hemisphere is that of the variegated cutwvorm, I'eridroma margaritosa (Haw.), recently reported from California by Steinhaus (1947). Other examples of this type of disease have been observed in Europe in larvae of the cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (Linn.
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