NYiMrilALIXAE: VANESSA ATALAMA. 449 



the haH"-o[»cne(l leaves at the very tiuuunit of the phint, where lie lines the 

 ii[)l)er surface of the leaf with a silken weh, so fastened at different points 

 as to draw together the a[)j>roxiinate outside edges, thus forming a canopy 

 within which he lives concealed, solitary and indolent. K\ idently the 

 newly born caterpillar could not efiect such an o[)eration on any other than 

 the tenderer, newly opening leaves ; and it therefore seems strange that the 

 parent should choose leaves farther down the stalk, the duration of the egg 

 heing so short. It is this habit of the young larva which has led Mr. 

 l^dwards to state that the eggs are laid on the terminal leaves. During the 

 first stage, the caterpillar "eats the snbstance of the leaf within its case, at 

 some distance from the tip, leaving the frame-work untouched. It makes 

 its resting place quite close to the base, and there it will remain till after it 

 has passed the first moult. Most of the feeding is done at night" (Fa\- 

 wards, Can. ent., xv : 15). After moulting it quits this retreat and takes 

 possession of a lo\\'er expanded leaf. INfr. Edwards watched one of these 

 and found that it first gnawed nearly through the midrib at the very base 

 of the leaf and cut also a hole next the rib in the base of the leaf itself, 

 bv which the leaf was made to droop ; the opposite edges of the leaf were 

 then stitched together so as to form a canopy as l)efore (loc.cit.) ; often it 

 eats holes between the next pair of side veins, as in the figure (81 : (V) , 

 and then the lateral rib between the holes is also weakened by gnawing. 

 liv this i)eculiar mode of weakening the leaf, the nest may be readily dis- 

 tinguished from that of Pol. connna on the same plant. During the early 

 part of this stage, it feeds still within the leaf, but toward the end it 

 devours the extremity of the leaf which serves as a nest, but no longer as 

 a complete concealment. A new one is made after the next moult, often 

 open more or less at both ends and it now 



Begins with tlie extremity of the fokled leaf, aud eats downwards [i. e. toward tlu- 

 base, actually upwards], and. as it gradually consumes its habitation, it retreats back- 

 wards, till at last, having, as it Avere, eaten itself out of house and home, it is forced 

 to abandon its imperfect shelter, and construct a new one. . . . The sides of tlu- 

 larger leaf selected for its new habitation are drawn togetlier l)y silken threads, so 

 tiiat tlie edges of the leaf meet closely and form a light and commodious cavity, which 

 securely shelters and completely conceals the included caterpillar. This in time is 

 eaten like the first, and another is formed in like manner. (Harris. Inj. ins.,;]d. ed.,2!t.'>.) 



I have generally foinid that even the largest caterpillars made their nests 

 of a single leaf (81 : 2) and such has been the experience of others ; but 

 Mr. Lintner on one occasion found that "the greater number of the nearly 

 niatme larvae were hidden in a shelter made by spinning together several 

 of the leaA-es at the tip of the plant, after the stalk had been partially 

 eaten through at a suitable height, so as to })ermit it to be readily bent 

 downward among the leaves beneath, where a thicker shelter could be con- 

 structed (Ent. notes, i : 51). I have occasionally found similar compound 

 nests, but have not noticed the bending of the stalk. Mr. Edwards, how- 



