106 ' Bulletin 187. 



four months, when we broke np the cage, as it was quite evident 

 that these July motlis would hibernate ! 



And yet we were not surprised wlien we received a letter from a 

 correspondent at Albion, ]^. Y., dated xVugust 25tli, and stating that 

 the second brood of pahner-worms were then about half grown and 

 and many had just hatched. We immediately went to Albion and 

 found on the apple trees many little caterpillars very similar in 

 appearance and habits to palmer-worms. We doubted their identity 

 at once, and upon opening the box containing our specimens on our 

 return to the insectary, we found that the supposed palmer-worms 

 had spun the characteristic, white, ribbed cocoons of the apple buc- 

 culatrix caterpillar [Bucculatrix j^omofoliella). We wrote to other 

 infested localities, but no one had seen anything of a second brood 

 of palmer-worms. We feel sure that there is but one brood of the 

 caterpillars during a year. 



It seemed incredible that such tiny moths could live through most 

 of the summer and all of autumn and then hibernate until spring. 

 Stain ton states that there is but one yearl}' brood of the caterpillars 

 of the European species of this genus of insects ; in some species the 

 caterpillars work in September and hibernate in that stage, and of 

 a species whose caterpillar works in June on clover, he says nothing 

 about how it hibernates. In reply to our query if he had any data 

 on this point. Professor C. H. Fernald wrote- us : " There are many 

 of the Tineids that hibernate in the imago state, I have collected 

 several species of Ypsoloplius under such circumstances as to lead 

 me to believe that they hibernate in that stage." 



We are thus forced to conclude that there is but one brood of 

 palmer-worms in a year, and that the moths issuing early in July go 

 into hibernation without havini>: laid their e^^^- 



The eg'g'S. — Apparently no one has yet seen the e^^ laid by a 

 palmer- worm-moth. We coniidently expected to have induced 

 the moths to lay eggs in our cages, but as we have just shown above, 

 it was working against Xature. Evidently the eggs are not laid 

 until spring, and then doubtless somewhere on the tree where the 

 caterpillars are to feed. We will hazard a guess that the eggs are 

 laid in May on the bark of the branches or on the opening leaves, 

 and that the caterpillars hatch from the 15th to the end of May. 



