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THE COCONUT SKIPPER. 
LEPIDOPTERA, 
HESPERIID A. 
Padraona chrysozona Plitz. 
During the months of September and October many of the leaflets of 
small coconut trees of from 6 to 15 feet in height are partially destroyed. 
Certain of these leaflets have their outer edges sewn together by means 
of a pure-white silk which is decidedly elastic, so that the leaf may be 
pulled slightly apart without tearing the fastening. Inside these folds 
the light, yellowish-green caterpillar, having a chitinous head, somewhat 
darker than the body and boldly marked with a very regular pattern, is 
encountered. 
Toward the latter part of October the semiactive pupe are found in 
these “cradles,” partially covered and surrounded by a snow-white 
floceulent substance, which has a wax-like feel. This substance has very 
much the appearance of the wax secreted by certain species of Coccide 
and is exuded from the skin pores of the caterpillar toward the end of 
its larval stage. It serves as a protection for the pupa. 
The coconut skipper, like nearly all Hesperiidae, flies during the very 
early morning or the late afternoon and early evening hours, and hence 
it is very difficult to observe its egg-laying habits. 
The eggs are found upon the under side of the leaflets of the coconut 
and but rarely more than one occurs upon a single leaflet. They hatch 
in from seven to eight days and the young caterpillar, after devouring 
all of the eggshell except that portion in contact with the leaf surface, 
at once proceeds to the edge of the leaf and begins to feed. This process 
consists in cutting out an oblique swath extending toward the midrib, of 
about the width of the insect’s head. Frequently the caterpillar abandons 
a portion of the leaf, after having fed upon it for a short time, the result 
being that leaflets are encountered the margins of which are deeply 
notched, as shown by Plate II, fig. 1. Under normal conditions, and after 
the caterpillar has cut the leaflet to the midrib, it sews the margins 
together to form its nest, feeding upon the cut edge, either toward the: 
apex or the base of the leaflet. 
The neck of this caterpillar is much constricted, and therefore the head 
has considerable freedom of motion, but in a state of repose the normal 
dorso-ventral axis of the head is so inclined that it lies nearly in a plane 
with the longitudinal axis of the body, thus causing the mouth to be 
elevated and projected forward to form the extreme anterior point of 
the insect (PI. IT, fig. 3 A), which, in such larve as those of Attacus atlas 
Linn., and Thosea cinereamarginata Banks, is formed by the front of the 
face or the occiput. The caterpillar of the latter has the head deflected 
beneath the body. 
