264 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



NOTES ON THE LARCH CASE BEARER (COLEOPHORA LARICELLA 



. HBN.). 



BY H. T. FERNALD, AMHERST, MASS. 



During the present season (1919)the Larch Case Bearer has made its ap- 

 pearance in Northampton, Mass., apparently at the same place where it ap- 

 peared in 1886, as recorded by Hagen (Can. Ent., XVHI, 125). A number of 

 good- sized larches have been injured, the outer half of the leaf being thoroughly 

 mined, causing the trees to look quite badly. By the middle of June all work 

 was at an end and no moths could be found, and it is probable that at this time 

 the insect was in the pupa stage. 



On July 18th another examination was made, and eggs and newly- hatched 

 larvae were found in abundance. The egg is rather dome shaped, its diameter 

 at the base being about .3 mm., and its height the same or slightly less. 

 It is of a grayish or brownish colour, apparently determined by the age of the 

 embryo within, the more advanced eggs being darker. The centre of the top 

 is irregularly roughened and about a dozen ridges diverge from this area toward 

 the margin of the egg, the exact number of ridges varying' somewhat in different 

 examples. The surface between the ridges is minutely roughened, resembling 

 the surface of an orange. The egg may be placed on either side of the leaf, 

 but most frequently upon the upper one, and somewhere on its outer half. 



The larva on hatching appears to enter the leaf, and forms its mine along 

 one edge, working sometimes toward the tip, sometines in the other direction. 

 At this time no trace of a thoracic shield could be found in any of the specimens 

 examined, though quite high power lenses of a compound microscope were 

 used, nor were any prolegs or spines on the body visible, except two or three 

 of the latter on the head and prothorax, so small as to be extremely difificult to 

 locate. The general colour of the larva was brown, but under the microscope 

 appeared mottled with dark reddish. Unfortunately, it was not possible to 

 carry the observations farther. 



Mailed Noveniober 20th, 1919 



