54 



FRUIT INSECTS 



together with silk, or, often rolhng the edge of a leaf slightly, 

 fasten it with silk threads and feed beneath this partial protec- 

 tion. Late in June, these palmer- 

 worms transform to tiny brown 

 pupae (Fig. 58), which may be at- 

 tached by a few silken threads, at 

 their posterior ends, to the injured 



fflHHn leaves, or may be found on the 

 BP"" ground. In about ten days there 

 m emerges from these pupae the minute 



m sray or grayish-brown moths with 



M a wing expanse of little more than | 



t an inch (Fig. 59) . They are quite 



t?# variable in color and markings. 

 '^y The front wings are more or less 

 T sprinkled with black scales and 



Fig. 58. — Palmer-worm pupaj. marked with 4 small, black spots 



arranged obliquely near the middle 

 and 6 or 7 black dots near the fringed edge. The hind wings 

 are heavily fringed and of a dusky color with glossy azure-blue 

 reflection. There is but a single brood of palmer-worms an- 

 nually ; the moths 

 which emerge early 

 in July apparently 

 hibernate and lay 

 their tiny, delicate, 

 pearly-white, ob- 

 long-oval eggs in the 

 spring. The eggs 

 are laid on the 

 under side of the 

 opening leaves in 

 May ; they are tuckcnl away among the hairs or deposited in 

 the angles of the veins. 



Fig. 59. — Palmer-worm moth ; the wings on each 

 side represent a different variety (X 5). 



