rAMl'im.lDI: TAMrillLA MANDAN. lo73 



the fornuT at once inailc a nost in a l)!a(lc (as did one I liatcliud ) , while the 

 one placed on {ilantain "wandered all over the ylass and woidd not tonch 

 the plantain." Removed to grass it at once began to make its nest. Its 

 true iiati\e food plant is yet to he disco\('red. 



Food plants and habits of caterpillar. My account of these must 

 he drawn entirely from the observations of Mr. James Fletcher, the only 

 one who has raised the caterpillar to maturity (Can. ent., xx.). "These 

 larvae fed freely on all grasses offered to them but seemed to prefer wide- 

 leaved sj>ecies. . . . The favorite grasses were Paniciim crns-galli, P. san- 

 guinale and Triticiini repens." This choice, Mr. Fletcher thinks, "may 

 have been an instinctive preference for protection, both from the shape of 

 their bodies and the coloration, added to a habit of lying extended down 

 the midrib vvith the body closely appressed, the lower part of the head 

 protnided and the apex drawn back, these larvae are well hidden from ob- 

 servation." 



\N'hen his eggs were about to hatch, Mr. Fletcher put one on plantain 

 and one on grass ; the latter, when born, set to work at once and spun a 

 small tent of two or three cords of silk attached to the edges of the ori-ass 

 blade. The next morning the leaf was found eaten at tip considerably. 

 The other on plantain wandered all over the glass under which all were 

 enclosed, and woidd not touch the plantain. When removed to the grass 

 with a paint brush, it at once set to work making its tent. It seems plain, 

 therefore, that our species will not eat plantain as the European species is 

 said to do, a point which now seems to me to require corroboration. 



I recorded in my notes that "on hatching, the caterpillars at once tie 

 themselves up in the tip of a blade of grass by fastening together the oppo- 

 site edges by two or three thickened and -somewhat distant strands of 

 silk." Mr. Fletcher uses almost the same expression : — 



Directly after they hatched the yonn.^ larvae climbed up to the tops of the blades of 

 ^ass and made a sort of tent by catching the opposite edges together with two or 

 three cords of silk, about half an inch lielow the tip. They then attacked the edges 

 of the leaf, eating down on each side and leaving the midrib. 



From the very first [he .idds, they] were g rent wanderers, frequently leaving their food 

 plant and crawling all over the glass lamp chimney, which was used as a cage. In 

 these wanilcriiigs they spun silken paths wherever they went, and to prevent their es- 

 cape a plug of cotton wadding was kept in the top of the chimney. This habit of 

 wantrering was kept up through all the stages and the inside of the glass was covered 

 ■with their silken paths. At no time however did they construct a tent by catching 

 several leaves together. . . . When at rest during the first three stages they retired be- 

 neath their tents and lay extended along the midrib. After the third moult they 

 would sometimes roll the leaf of a wide species of grass as Panicum cnis-galli into a 

 tube similar to those [made by Atrytone /.abulon. After the fourth moult no tent was 

 made, the larva lyini; exposed on the upper surface of the leaves]. 



The full grown larva measured one inch and one-eighth on September 12 (twelvd 

 days after the last moult). .Vfter this it fed sparingly for about two weeks and then 

 spun a mat of silk on the face of a blade of grass and drew two other blades over It 

 with single strands of silk. The furrow down the face deepened and appeared to 



