20 DR. BRACKENRIDGE CLEMENS' LETTERS. 



The larva mines the leaf of Nyssa multiflora, in numbers 

 that are perfectly incredible. 



It is snbcylindrical, flattened above and beneath, with the 

 segments rounded and projecting laterally ; a dorsal plate on 

 first segment; no legs or prolegs, but a tubercle on the 

 ventral surface of twelfth ring, with a circlet of hooks. Head 

 broad, circular, flattened, thin and retractile. Head dark 

 brown, shield brownish; body very pale green, with dark 

 atoms along the dorsum ; ventral surface with a line of double 

 black spots. After the last moulting the shield becomes 

 black, with a black vascular line. 



In the mine of the larva the entire parenchyma of the leaf 

 is devoured, leaving the upper and lower epidermis almost 

 transparent. When it prepares for pupation the larva weaves 

 an oval cocoon within the mine ; and when the upper and 

 lower membranes are well carpeted within its limits, they are 

 cut in an oval form, and the cocoon permitted to fall to the 

 earth. 



The two ends of the cocoon are still open, and the larva 

 attaches it by little cables of silk to surrounding objects on 

 the ground, to prevent the rains of fall and spring from carry- 

 ing it away. 



The pupa is thrust from the cocoon at maturity, the case 

 being extremely thin and delicate. I have not yet opened 

 any of the cocoons to describe the pupa itself. 



The head of the imago is almost globose, without ocelli, 

 covered with closely appressed scales ; front somewhat pro- 

 duced in the middle at base of the tongue. No maxillary 

 palpi ; labial separated, slender, curving on the sides and 

 ascending to about the middle of the front. Tongue about 

 half as long as the thorax. Eyes elliptical. Antenna? rather 

 thick, but filiform, short, somewhat more than one-half as long 

 as the anterior wings. Abdomen nearly twice longer than 

 the thorax beneath. Hind tibia? slightly pilose, with a pair 

 of spurs near the middle and a terminal pair. 



If I have not mistaken the structural affinities of this 

 species, it belongs to a genus not described in your " Insecta 

 Brit.," and if none has been formed for its reception I propose 



