299 



white, with two dorsal, dull purplish red stripes above, and on each side one 

 below the spiracles. On each segment, third to eleventh inclusive, six short, 

 acuminated, black tubercles (two above, and two on each side) ; between 

 the lateral ones are the black spiracles. The first segment has also six 

 tubercles, but they are not acuminated. The second segment has the two 

 dorsal tubercles elongated, forming a pair of filiform, slightly recurved, black 

 horns. The twelfth has only five, the middle one shortest; but the anal 

 clappet is beset with several of a yellowish color, of which two behind are 

 most prominent. 



Head dull greenish or brownish yellow; as also the anal clappet, legs and 

 prolegs. 



Oiketicus coniferarum Harr. MSS. 



" Drop-worm," or " basket-worm," of the Pennsylvanians. Dr. Pickering 

 told me it was very common on the trees in Philadelphia, hanging its pods 

 covered with bits of sticks, etc., to the twigs. I suppose it to be an Oiketi- 

 cus, and similar to the one received from Long Island, and mentioned in my 

 work on injurious insects. 



Miss Morris, in a letter dated Sept. 11, 1849, states that " the drop-worm 

 is now feeding in this neighborhood, though not in our garden, and I 

 promise you all I can procure in their different states. The female never 

 leaves her case, and is wingless. She deposits her eggs in the case in the 

 fall, where they remain sheltered all winter, and hatch when the leaves are 

 sufficiently matured to feed them. The mother dies as soon as her eggs are 

 deposited, and late in the fall, all winter, and in the spring, these cases are 

 to be found in abundance, filled with eggs, or empty. Hence I infer that 

 the male fly makes its appearance about this time, and a little later, and 

 never in the spring, as I have never found a living pupa after October. 

 Though these insects are abundant some years in this neighborhood, I have 

 never been able to procure the male insect when I could be certain of its 

 identity, as in every instance an ichneumon was found in its place." 



In another letter from Miss Morris, dated Sept. 24, 1849, she says: 

 "Had I known your wish to obtain them (the drop-worm) two weeks sooner, 

 I could have sent any quantity; but when your letter reached me (Sept. 

 18?) they had finished feeding, and are now dangling at the tops of the 

 trees in the streets in Philadelphia, far out of my reach. A few days since 1 

 stood under a tree in town covered with their pods, etc. The favorite food of 

 this worm is the larch, arbor vitas, hemlock, and trees of that order, and the 

 maple and linden. From this marked difference in their food, I am inclined 

 to believe there are two species, but cannot speak certainly. They weave 

 their cases, as other case-moths do, and in like manner carry them with 

 them, fastening them to a leaf while feeding, and dropping from branch to 



