54 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '04 



Notes on an Elm Leaf Case-bearer, Coleophora 

 limosipennella (Duponchel.) 



BY WALTER W. HOOVER, Brooklyn, New York. 



I met this little insect for the first time in the latter part of 

 June, 1902, and have observed it pretty closely from time to 

 time since then. My attention was first attracted to it by the 

 numerous little brown patches on the leaves of the English 

 Elms (Ulmus campestris) in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. An ex- 

 amination of the leaves revealed the fact that the patches 

 were made by a case-bearing insect, the larva of a small moth 

 belonging to the genus Coleophora. The exact species I 

 could not determine at the time but I now believe it to be 

 limosipennella . 



The case-bearers were first noticed in Prospect Park about 

 1894 or 1895, but it is not improbable that they existed here 

 long before that, but had not become numerous enough to at- 

 tract attention. They are now found in nearly all parts of 

 Prospect Park, and in several places in Brooklyn outside of 

 the Park, but they occur in greatest numbers on the English 

 Elms on what is called South Lake-Drive. While showing a 

 decided preference for the English Elm I have found them on 

 the American Elm, and on the Camperdown Elm. This de- 

 cided preference for the English Elm leads me to believe that 

 like the Elm-leaf Beetle, which also prefers the European 

 Elms but has become a formidable foe to the American Elm, 

 this case-bearer is also an importation from Europe. 



The case-bearer is only about J/s, of an inch long and the 

 case is about ^4 inch in length. The case is made from a por- 

 tion of the leaf and resembles both in color and shape a 

 diminutive cigar. 



The manner of feeding is rather interesting and is somewhat 

 as follows : The caterpillar selects a place almost invariably on 

 the underside of the leaf usually near a vein branching 

 from the midvein ; here it fastens the case and proceeds to 

 make a small round hole in the skin of the leaf. As soon as 

 the epidermis is eaten through and the hole thus made is large 

 enough to admit its head, the caterpillar begins feeding upon 



