110 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and many other valuable qualities. Another of its great merits has 

 been that, until recently, it has had no important insect enemies, and 

 none that were peculiar to it. Occasionally a stalk would be found 

 bored by the larvae of the handsome longicorn beetle, Dorchasehema 

 wildii, or infested with the scales and cottony tufts of Pulvinaria innu- 

 merabilis, or a few leaves gnawed by tree-crickets or rolled by leaf- 

 rollers ; but none of these seriously affected its vigor or appearance. 

 During the latter part of the summer of 1890, however, many of the 

 hedges of St. Louis county showed rusty spaces which became leafless 

 early in the autumn. Examination revealed extensively gnawed and 

 perforated leaves, and threads of web in which grains of frass were 

 entangled, but the mischief-maker could not be discovered. 



But the following year, when the same work began to appear on 

 the hedges early in the season, and more generally and conspicuously 

 than ever, it was after cautious scrutiny traced to the presence in great 

 numbers of small, slender, watery-green larvee, which, while young, 

 extend themselves so closely along the midrib and veins of the under 

 side of the leaves, that even the practiced eye could not easily detect 

 them. They remain thus motionless during the day-time, feeding for 

 the most part only at night. As they increase in size, they have the 

 habit of deserting the outer leaves during the day, and resting on the 

 inner stems and branches, whose color, especially after the last larval 

 molt, they closely imitate. In passing back and forth they spin a great 

 deal of fine but strong, gray web, apparently guiding themselves, like 

 Theseus through the labyrinth of ancient fable, by means of these 

 threads from their inner diurnal retreat to the fresh outer foliage to 

 "which they came at night for food. Possibly, also, this carpet of 

 threads affords them surer footing than the uncovered stems. 



In the course of the summer of 1892, 1 was able to work out the 

 complete life history of the insect, an outline of which was published 

 in " Insect Life," accompanied by a technical characterization of the 

 species, which was a new one, by Dr. Riley, who had previously col- 

 lected it in Texas. 



The parent moth appears on the wing early in the spring, and 

 deposits its eggs in clusters on the under sides of the young leaves. 

 From these eggs hatch tiny translucent green, very slender caterpillars) 

 which upon the slightest disturbance curl up cut-worm fashion and 

 drop to the ground. If not interfered with they remain, either in a 

 single cluster or separated into two or three groups, feeding upon the 

 green tissue of the leaf, causing transparent spots to appear from the 

 upper surface. 



