170 NEW YORK STATK MUSEUM 



Larch case bearer 



ColcopJiora laricella Iliibn. 



Tips of larch needles sometimes turn yellow or brown, and on investigation it is 

 found that the interior has been eaten away by a small, brown, black headed worm. 



This insect is a European species, and its presence in tliis country 

 was first recorded b\ I)r iiamn, in i886.' Specimens were sent him by 

 Mr Henry Watson of Xorlhamplon Islass., who stated that it caused 

 considerable injur\' to a number of hux-hes about 30 years old. This insect 

 has been known in this country for a number of years; possibly earlier than 

 the above date, according to Mr J. (i. Jack who, writing in 1896,'' staled that 

 the insect had been known for a good many years at the Arnold arboretum. 

 This species does not appear to multiply very rapidly in this countr\-, and 

 though present in these two places, and probably others, for several years, 

 has not caused damage enough to arouse ajiprehension. It is not men- 

 tioned in our economic literature, and while we have observed the species 

 for some years on larches at Albany, it has ne\er intlicted much damage. 



Life history. The delicate gray moths occur in Junt: or Jul)-, and 

 according to Stainlon, the recentl\- hatched larva which appears in the 

 autumn doubtless conttmts itself with mining in a leaf, but as soon as the 

 mine is big enough to form a case, it cuts oil a portion and jiroceeds with 

 this protection, to an adjoining leaf. The case- is at first whitish l)ut gradu- 

 ally becomes gray, and the cali-r])illar renders it less transparent b\' lining it 

 with silk. The method of feeiling is similar to that of our native species, 

 and the lar\a when attacking a needle, first cuts a circular hole through 

 which its head, and later its body may exttmd into the interior. Its case is 

 attached to the edge of the orifice in the needle and the mine, as well as 

 the evidence of various observers, shows that it rarely gets far from its 

 domicile, evidently preferring the shelter of its silk-lined case to the protec- 

 tion afforded by a mined leaf. The larvae retire to the large stems on the 

 approach of winter and hibernate, becoming active again in early spring 



'Can. Ent. 18:125-26 

 'Garden and Forest, 9: 269 



