486 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



soft, orange-colored grub, retaining, however, all the vital organs 

 of an insect. The moth produced by this simple larva's transforma- 

 tion, though but a tenth of an inch in length, not only has all the 

 parts of a perfect insect, but is richly dressed in a splendor of color, 

 as if to recompense itself for its long season of poverty and confine- 

 ment by an extravagance of luxury. Entomologists have, therefore, 

 given its species the name of "Resplendent Shield-bearer," or, for 

 technical purposes, Coptodisca splendoriferella. The creature fully 

 deserves both parts of its name, though it divides them between the 

 two principal stages of its history, since as a moth it is not a shield 

 bearer and as a caterpillar it is not resplendent. 



The body of the moth (pi. 1, C) and the front halves of the folded 

 wings are plain silvery gray, with a bluish cast and iridescent reflec- 

 tions. The ornamentation from which the species gets its name is 

 lavished upon the expanded rear halves of the wings, which fold 

 together in a steep declivity on either side. On each, in a field of 

 gold, three silvery white spots stand out in strong relief against areas 

 of black, while the end of the wing, tapering abruptly to a point, is 

 bordered by a wide fringe of pale brown hairs, in which a pencil of 

 black makes a shaft through the apex. The concealed parts of the 

 body and the hind wings are plain pale gray, the legs and antennae 

 brownish. But the hind wings, brought into view when the others 

 are spread (pi. 1, Z>), though plain in color, are remarkable in form. 

 Each consists of a feathery fan, its membrane being reduced to a 

 mere tapering strap, fringed all around with long, soft hairs, which 

 reach a length on the hind margin greater than half that of the 

 supporting strap itself. 



All the caterpillar's labors and endurance might appear to be for 

 the purpose of producing this microscopic bit of perfection, yet 

 the moth lives for no other purpose than to produce more caterpillars. 

 The writer was not able to find the eggs of the shield-bearer moth, 

 and others report finding them only after hatching, yet those of re- 

 lated species are easily found, and from them we know that the 

 hatching caterpillar gnaws its way through the bottom of the egg 

 and tunnels directly into the interior of the leaf. The young shield - 

 bearer at least enters the leaf at a very early age, and there lives 

 between the upper and lower surface or epidermal layers, feeding on 

 the soft tissues, called parenchyma, between them (pi. 1, F). It soon 

 hollows out a flat chamber or mine, and as it grows the cavity widens 

 and becomes of a triangular or ovate form. The epidermal layers 

 of the leaf die and the mine shows as a semitransparent, yellowish, 

 or reddish brown spot on the surface (pi. 1, E), the smaller end 

 usually wedged into an angle between the midrib and the base of a 

 vein or into that between a vein and one of its branches. Most of 

 the mines occur somewhere along the median parts of the leaves. 



