178 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. viil 



well constructed case ; but the height of perfection in this line is 

 reached in Ciciunns despecta Walk, and allies, which construct a curi- 

 ous case as hard as wood. Of one of these, C. externa, Moore says : 

 " This caterpillar lives in a hard hammock-like case formed of the 

 excrement, joined together with silk and mucilage. The case is sus- 

 pended from the twig on which it feeds by silk threads and is gene- 

 rally slung in a more or less vertical position, so that the curved end 

 protects the upper opening from rain. Both ends of the case are 

 alike and the caterpillar puts his head out at either end with equal fa- 

 cility." (Proc. Lit. Phil. Soc. Liverpool, XXXVI, 54.) Figure 9 

 of the plate shows a case like this.* Another group of larvae form a 

 case only at maturity, living at first under a net. Concerning one of 

 these, Cicinnus viohii-ea,j Sepp states that the larva when half grown 

 lives in a reticular net, but later makes a case, using silk and pieces of 

 leaves and bark mingled with excrements. (Surin. Vlind., pi. 30.) 

 Such nets on the oak had been known to me for some time, but I did 

 not at first suspect that they had any relation to the Lacosomid». 

 They are quite common in the scrub oak country along the south 

 shore of Long Island from Babylon to the eastern end, and they prove 

 to belong to Lacosoma chiridota, a species usually very rare. Its life- 

 history is as follows : 



Lacosoma chiridota Grote. 



Larva. 



1890 — Packard, 5th Rept. U. S. Ent. Coram., 141. 

 1893— Packard, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. VIII, 47. 



Egg. — Laid on the edge of the leaf or on one of the points. Cylin- 

 drical, the ends rounded and with a marked central constriction ; 

 base flat, a little spreading ; a longitudinal groove along the lower 

 part of each side ; six longitudinal stride, not marked enough to be 

 ridges, the rest of the surface finely shagreened. Shell white ; size 

 1.4 X .4 X .5 mm. (Plate VI, fig. i). 



Stage I. — Under a net (Plate VI, fig. 3) on the upper side of a 

 leaf of Qucrcus tinctoria. Head .3 mm. wide. Head and dorsum 

 dark brown, darkest toward the sides ; subventral region pale whitish 



* See also the account in the Cambridge Nat. History Insects part ii, pp. 377- 

 379 (as Perophoridse ) . 



I Probably not belonging to this genus, but I have no specimens by which to 

 correct the reference. 



