LEPID OP TERA . 2 5 I 



The young larva is remarkable in resembling more the larva 

 of a beetle than the ordinary type of lepidopterous larvae. 

 It is nearly flat ; the first thoracic segment is much larger than 

 any of the others ; the body tapers towards the hind end ; 

 and there are only the faintest rudiments of legs discernible. 

 The larvae molt seven times. At the seventh molt the form 

 of the body undergoes a striking change. It now becomes 

 cylindrical in form, there is a great change in the shape of 

 the mouth-parts, and the fourteen feet are well developed. 

 This change in form during the life of the larva is charac- 

 teristic of a large group of Tineids of which this species may 

 be taken as a type. The full-grown cylindrical larva meas- 

 ures about one fifth inch in length. It spins a cocoon, which 

 is simply a delicate, semi-transparent, circular sheet of white 

 silk, stretched over a part of the floor of the mine. The 

 pupa is dark brown in color, and bears a toothed crest upon 

 its head, which enables it doubtless to pierce or saw its way 

 out from the cocoon. The moth is a delicate little creature, 

 whose wings expand a little more than one fourth inch. The 

 fore wings are white, with three, broad, irregular, bronze bands 

 across each, and each band is bordered with black on the 

 inner side. The hind wings are silvery. 



As this insect passes the winter as a larva within the dry 

 leaves, the best way to check its ravages when it becomes a 

 pest is to rake up and burn such leaves. 



The Palmetto-leaf Miner, Laverna sabalella (La-ver'na 

 sab-a-lel'la). This species occurs only in the South where 

 the saw-palmetto grows. But it is of general interest as 

 illustrating a peculiar type of larval habit. The larvae can 

 hardly be said to be leaf-miners ; for they feed upon the 

 upper surface of the leaf, destroying the skin as well as the 

 fleshy part of the leaf. They are social, working together in 

 small companies, and make a nest consisting of a delicate 

 sheet of silk covering that part of the leaf upon which they 

 are feeding; this sheet is covered with what appears like 

 sawdust, but which is really a mass of the droppings of the 



