IS()2.] 149 



can eitlier secure them ami rear theui in breeding-vessels, or wait until 

 the period of pupation, and secure, the pupas without the trouble of at- 

 tending to the feeding of the larA'nc. 



NEPTICUIA MINEKS OF THE SYCAMORE LEAF. 



I ascertained, during the foil of 1801, that there is more than one 

 species of Neptmda that mines the leaf of the Sycamore tree, and that 

 all of them are double brooded. The first brood may be taken early 

 in June and July, and the second during the latter part of September 

 and early in October. 



The mine and larva of one species is described in the November and 

 December number of the present work for 18C1, page 83, and the imago 

 in the January and February number for 1862, page loo; but it may be 

 well to repeat here, for the purpose of comparison, a more circumstantial 

 description of the mine of the species to which allusion is made. 



The mine of Neptinda PkmtaneUa begins as a very slender track, the. 

 entire length of which is filled v:ith fraxs. This is very soon expanded 

 into a round, conspicuous, blister-like blotch on the upper surface of the 

 leaves, which sometimes obliterates the early portion of the mine ; but in 

 this event it is still perceptible on the separated epidermis as a slender, 

 dark brown line. After the blotch has been formed, the " frass" is dif- 

 fused over the floor of the mine, discoloring its surface. 



Sycamore miner, No. 2, mines in quite a straight line, when its course 

 is along a vein of the leaf, otherwise it is slightly winding. The mine 

 begins as an extremely minute tract, and is gradually enlarged towards 

 the extremity. A day or two before leaving its mine the larva enlarges 

 the end into a small blotch, which has attached to it a long linear track, 

 irith a central line of blackish frass. In the enlarged portion of the mine 

 the frass-line changes into one of scattered and separated grains. 



The larva is of a lively or bright green color, with a dark green central 

 line of intestinal matters. Head, pale brownish. The body tapers some- 

 what from the thoracic wings. The larva was not taken from the mine 

 for description. 



The imago of this species is undescribed, and although I secured cocoo- 

 nets last fall, which may produce images in the spring, I shall be glad if 

 some new obsei-ver reai-s imagos in the coming summer, and records a de- 

 scription of them. 



Sycamore miner, No. 3, mines, at first, in a very narrow, transparent 

 track, having a blackish central line of frass ; the tract being usually 

 much contorted. At this stage of its larval life, which is its earliest 

 period, the miner can scarcely be detected by the naked eye. Three or 



