FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



BLASTOBASID.E 



Smith wrote: "These moths are usually small in size 

 with a peculiar silken sheen to the prevailing gray shade of 

 the forewings. The favorite time for flight is an hour 

 before sundown, when sometimes hundreds can be taken. 

 The larvae live in seeds, nuts, and buds, as well as Aphid 

 and Kermid galls." And in connection with Valentinia 

 glandulella: "Almost every acorn found on the ground 

 in midwinter contains one or more of the larvae of this 

 species, often in company with a Tortricid and a Coleopter- 

 ous larva." 



ELACHISTID^E 



Quoting Smith again, and most of the 

 Coleophora short notes which I give concerning moths 

 are culled from his Insects of New Jersey: "As many 

 of the species in the adult stage are indistinguishable 

 from each other, the only reliable way to identify 

 them is by breeding. The larvae are all case-makers, 

 the cases distinctive for each species. In shape they 

 range from slender flattened cylinders to one made of 

 clusters of flowers. Almost every plant supports one or 

 more species, many are confined to grasses, and others live 

 in seed heads. In general, the life histories are similar; 

 eggs are laid in summer, the larva makes a small case in 

 which it hibernates in the next to the last stage. In the 

 earliest days of spring it resumes feeding for a few weeks, 

 moths issuing May to July." The cases may be found 

 during the winter attached to trunks and larger limbs. 

 When the trees leaf out, the larvae move to the leaves. 

 C. caryfE/oliella, cylindrical dark brown case on hickory 

 leaves. C. corylifoliella, case flattened, with serrate edges, 

 on hazel. C. fletcherella, small dark brown flattened case on 

 apple (Plate LXI). C. laricella, small dark brown case 

 on larch. C. limosipennella, flat case, with serrate upper 

 edge, on elm. C. malivorella, black, pistol-shaped case 

 on apple. C. pruniella, large black pistol-shaped case 

 on wild cherry. C. ostrya, reddish-brown, flat case on 

 ironwood. C. querciella, scimiter-case, anterior two 



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