Thk Pistol-Cask-Bearer. 13 



were thus * 'nipped in the bud" in the orchards where the insect 

 worked. After the opening flowers are destroyed or the petals 

 have fallen, the caterpillars turn their attention to the tender 

 foliage. We placed about a hundred of the little cases on a small 

 tree in the insectary that contained no flower-buds. Nearly every 

 leaf on the tree was soon riddled like those shown in figure i . 

 The insect thus has more destructive feeding habits than the 

 cigar-case-bearer, but as it feeds openly, and does not mine out 

 its food from the interior of the leaf, it would seem to be easier to 

 reach with a poison spray than the latter. 



The pistol- case-bearers continued to feed on the leaves until 

 about May 15th, when most of them migrated to the branches 

 where they securely fastened their cases to the bark. Projecting 

 upward from the branches at an angle of about 45 degrees, these 

 full-grown pistol-cases present a peculiar appearance ; this is well 

 shown at c, plate 2 . So securely are the cases fastened that they 

 often remain on the branches for a year or more, but they are of 

 no further use to the insect after about a month. 



Pupation. — After making all secure in the manner just described, 

 the little caterpillar proceeds to prepare for its wonderful transfor- 

 mation to the adult insect — the moth. It first turns around in 

 the case, so that the head is towards the anal opening in the 

 handle of the "pistol. " If a case be torn from the bark and care- 

 fully cut open about two weeks after it was fastened down, its 

 inhabitant will not be a caterpillar, but a curious light brown, 

 apparently lifeless object — the pupa. This change to a pupa took 

 place about June 7th, in our cages. 



The emergence of the moth and egg-laying. — The insect passes 

 from ten to twenty days of its life as a pupa in its old pistol- 

 shaped suit fastened to the branches, as shown at c, plate 2. 

 From the curved slit (formerly used as a back-door by the cater- 

 pillar) in the under side of the handle of the "pistol," there 

 emerges, from June 17th to the 30th, the adult insect — the pretty 

 little moth described on a previous page and figured at ^, a, plate 

 I. Thus, the pistol-shaped cases serv^e as snug warm suits for 

 the caterpillars during their life, and then furnish cozy homes in 

 which the insect undergoes its transformations. Other records 

 give the time of appearance of the moth from the first to the 



