56 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '04 



I found, however, that by the middle of September, several 

 weeks before the leaves dropped, the case-bearers were already 

 firmly attached to the stem. Clustered around the bud at the 

 base of the petiole of the leaf upon which they had lived, they 

 passed the winter, ready to begin work upon the unfolding leaf 

 which the first warm days of Spring should bring out. Thus 

 they passed the Winter not as pupae but as hibernating larvae. 



With the advent of Spring the caterpillars begin to feed 

 upon the unfolding leaves. Soon they feel the need of larger 

 quarters, but instead of building an addition to the old case, 

 each caterpillar makes a new case. The case-bearer selects a 

 place near the edge of the leaf and usually near the base, at- 

 taches its case and begins to make a burrow in the soft green 

 tissue just as it normally would in feeding except that it does 

 not eat out so large an area as it ordinarily would, but simply 

 makes a burrow large enough to accommodate itself comfort- 

 ably and enough more to allow for growth. It then weaves a 

 silken web all around the interior of the burrow except at the 

 hole where it entered, which is left as the mouth of the case, 

 and a narrow slit at the opposite end which serves as a back 

 door for the exit of excrement. The new case is still attached 

 to the leaf, but in a day or two it becomes dry and brittle, and 

 the wriggling of the caterpillar causes it to break away from 

 the rest of the leaf, and soon the caterpillar walks off carrying 

 his case with him. 



The life of the case-bearer during the next few weeks may 

 be briefly described as spent in eating, resting quietly sus- 

 pended on the under surface of a leaf, and in seeking a new 

 place to feed. It is a curious sight to see one of these little 

 insects moving along a leaf with its case held out at a right 

 angle with the surface of the leaf upon which it is moving ; 

 it reminds one of a very small Bag- worm, Thyridopteryx cphc- 

 mertzformis. 



By the first week in July the larvae pupate, remaining in the 

 pupa condition about two weeks, and the adult moths emerge 

 about the middle of July. 



MR. JAY ELMER BROWN died in February, 1903. He was an ardent 

 collector of Lepidoptera and resided at Pasadena, California. 



