14 Bulletin 124. 



fifteenth of July, or about two weeks later than our rearings in 

 i8g6. This may be accounted for by the fact that the spring of 

 1896 was a remarkably early one and one also well adapted for 

 the development of insect life ; the case-bearers got to work 

 earlier than usual, for the apple buds started nearly two weeks in 

 advance of most seasons. 



The moths remain at rest on the leaves during the day, doubt- 

 less feeding but little, if any, and doing no damage. Although 

 dozens of moths emerged in our cages during the latter half of 

 June, we found no eggs until July 13th. But the next day, hun- 

 dreds of them had been laid all over the sides of the cage and on 

 all parts of some apple branches therein. Further observations 

 in the field showed that they were glued fast at their base usually 

 to either the upper or lower surfaces of the leaves. Apparently 

 no one had ever seen the eggs of this case-bearer before, for 

 nothing has been recorded about them. 



The eggs are of a cinnamon-rufous color, and are very pretty 

 objects when seen under a microscope. Although they are only 

 ,42 mm. (.016 of an inchj in diameter at their base and about .27 

 mm. (.01 of an inch) in height, they can be seen with the naked 

 eye when one knows where to look and what for. With our 

 micro-camera we succeeded in getting some much enlarged pic- 

 tures of these curiously shaped eggs ; the photographs are repro- 

 duced at d, plate i. As the figures show, the eggs remind one of 

 inverted tea-cups with strongly ridged sides. Many fine trans- 

 verse ridges connect the larger ones, and the deep cavity at the 

 upper end of the <i^% is quite irregular in shape. They are very 

 different from those of the closely allied cigar-case-bearer. 

 Although a few recently-hatched caterpillars were seen July 14th, 

 most of the eggs did not hatch until a week later ; the &^'g stage 

 thus last about a week in July. 



Habits of the recently-hatched caterpillar. — Unlike the cigar-case- 

 bearer, the newly-born caterpillar of the pistol-case-bearer is not 

 a miner, and also begins the construction of its suit soon after it 

 begins to eat. It first eats into the underside of the leaf, making 

 a hole about the size of a pin's head nearly through the leaf. 

 During this first meal, the little caterpillar apparently weaves 

 together v/ith silken threads some of its excrement and a few of 



