SUPERFAMILY CYNODIOIDEA 155 



are usually taken from the geometrical center of the small 

 blotches which terminate their mines. The leaves which 

 have been infested by Coptodisca often look as though they 

 had been clipped with a punch. The cases are let down by 

 threads of silk and before pupation they are fastened down 

 with a button or knot of silk. There is a record of an 

 infestation of C. splendoriferella in which there were so 

 many cut-out cases that the whole surface of a fence was 

 plastered thickly with them. The larvae are somewhat 

 fitted to drag their cases by reason of the sucker-like discs 

 on the thorax. The anal prolegs, too, are represented by 

 small lobes each with a small hook used in clinging to the 

 case. 



The resplendent case-cutter, Coptodisca splendoriferella, 

 of the apple is a golden-headed mothlet (expanse 4.5 mm.) 

 whose fore wings are of a lustrous leaden gray in the basal 

 half, and golden, with silvery and brownish streaks beyond. 

 Its habits were brilliantly described by Professor J. H. 

 Comstock in his first report as Entomologist of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture from which we quote 

 as follows: 



During the month of May, after the apple leaves have attained 

 a sufficient size, I have watched the brilliant little adult of this 

 insect running about upon the upper surface of the leaves in the 

 bright sunlight with their wings folded close along their sides. I 

 have never seen them deposit their eggs, and this is probably done 

 at night. Neither have I ever been able to find their unhatched 

 eggs, though the shells are plainly observable on the upper side 

 of the leaf after the mine is sufficiently far advanced to show one 

 where to look for them. 



The young larva, hatching, penetrates to the interior of the 

 leaf and begins a linear mine, which as it increases in size becomes 

 an irregular blotch obliterating the earlier linear portion. This 

 nearly completed mine bears a slight resemblance to that of 

 Tischeria malifoliella, which is frequently found upon the same 



