16 INSECUTOR INSCITI^ MENSTRUUS 



Pupa. — The pupa is formed in a loose tough web of brown 

 silk in which the larva molts for the last time, partially throw- 

 ing the cast skin off the pupa. 



Rounded, elliptical, obtected; dark mahogany brown. 

 Cremaster consisting of a group of short hairs each bearing a 

 knob of spines at its tip. Female pupa 23 mm. long, 9 mm, 

 broad, 14 inm. from tip of head to end of wing cases; male 

 pupa somewhat smaller. 



(Color names are according to Smith's Glossary.) 



Life History and Habits 

 The laying of an egg cluster may take considerable time. 

 An adult female taken laying on orange in the field was ob- 

 served 45 hours later to be still laying, and the number of eggs 

 in the cluster was then about three times as large as when the 

 insect was first observed. The eggs are piled in a large ir- 

 regular cluster on the upper leaf-surface. Unfertilized females 

 in captivity have each laid over 500 sterile eggs, beginning 

 oviposition within 24 hours of emergence. In the case of 

 fertilized females oviposition began about two days after 

 emergence. 



Once the larvae began to emerge it required about three days 

 for all the eggs to hatch. The egg stage varies from six to 

 eight days. 



The young larva eats a portion of its shell and after a short 

 time begins feeding, usually on the under leaf-surface. Dur- 

 ing the first two instars the larva does not bite through the 

 upper leaf tissue ; when disturbed it rolls itself into a ball and 

 drops on a silk thread. From the fourth instar on, the larva 

 is very active and a voracious eater. 

 The instar of 15 larvae averaged as follows : 

 First instar, 6 -\- days. Variations, 5-8 days. 

 Second instar, 3.5 days. Variations, 3-8 days. 

 Third instar, 4 -|- days. Variation, 3-6 days. 

 Fourth instar, 4 -f- days. Variation, 3-5 days. 

 Fifth instar, 7 days. Variation, 4-17 days. 

 Sixth instar, 9 -|- days. Variation, 6-18 days. 

 Some larvae had one, and a few even two, molts after the 

 sixth instar. 



