C!]e CanaViau ^ntomolDgist. 



VOL. VI. LONDON, ONT., DKCKMBKR, 1874. No. 12 



THE LARV.^: OF DEPRESSARL\ DUBITELLA AND 



rxELf:CHL\ RUBENSELLA. 



BY MARY E. .MURTFELDT, KIRK^VOOD, ^10. 



Being much interested in the Tineidoe. Mr. Chambers' articles on this 

 fomily of motlis are the first to receiYe attention as the successiYe numbers 

 of your magazine come to hand. 



I haYe had the satisfaction of rearing from their lar\-a3 many of the 

 winged gems described in your pages, among others the tAvo species named 

 aboYe. Now, as ]\Ir. C. seems to haYe been in some doubt as to his own 

 determination of these species, of which he has as yet — as he informs me 

 — seen only the imagines, it occurs to me that a description of their larval 

 characteristics might afford some aid in deciding the doubtful points. 



The larYa of Deprcssai'ia (Gelcchia) dubitcUa Cham, is \ery character- 

 istic and beautiful. It may be found during the months of July and 

 August on Ambrosia artcniisicBfoIia, concealed in a fusiform case, ^\■]^ich it 

 constructs In' drawing together the ])innatifid divisions of the leaf I 

 think it forms but a single case, which at first consists of but two di\"isions 

 of the 1«- af drawn together with silken threads. As it increases in size, its 

 domicile is enlarged by the incorporation of other lobes of the leaf It is 

 alwaYS to be found in its case in tlie daytime, and probably emerges only 

 at night to feed. 



This larva is rather more than half an inch in length, elongate and 

 slightly flattened. Head horizontal, semi-elliptical, highly polished jet 

 black. First segment horny, black and polished like the head. Second 

 segment, anterior half velvety black, posterior half i\-ory white, ornamented 

 above with five linear black marks, extending longitudinally backward ; the 

 dorsal and sub-dorsal ones do not reach to the posterior edge of the 

 segment, while the lateral lines, abo\e the stigmata, do. 'J'he remaining 

 segments are of a translucent white color, \arying from pearly to yellowish. 

 Thev are marked with three faint, longitudinal, brown lines and with a few 



