270 BUTTERFLIES 



The Silver-spotted Skipper 



Epargyreus tityrus 



One can seldom draw hard and fast artificial lines in 

 nature. There are all sorts of intermediate conditions 

 which disturb arbitrary classifications. It might seem 

 simple enough to say that some insects are leaf-rollers 

 and others are tent-makers, but as a matter of fact in the 

 case of the Silver-spotted Skipper we have an insect which 

 starts its larval life as a leaf -roller and finishes it as a tent- 

 maker. Its life-history is rather interesting and easily 

 observed, if one can find the larvae at work upon the 

 leaves of locusts and other trees. (See plates, pages 272-273.) 



The Silver-spotted Skipper is one of the largest butter- 

 flies of the interesting group to which it belongs. It lays 

 its eggs upon the upper surface of the leaflets of locusts 

 and other plants of the legume family. In less than a 

 week each egg hatches into a little caterpillar with a very 

 large head and a comparatively large body, tapering 

 rapidly toward the hind end. This little creature cuts 

 out from one side of the leaf a small round flap which it 

 turns over and binds in place by silken threads to make a 

 home for itself. This little home shows considerable 

 variation in its construction but it usually has an arched 

 dome held in place by strands of silk running from the 

 eaten fragment to the surface of the leaf. It remains an 

 occupant of this home until after the second moult. 

 About this time it becomes too large for its house and 

 deserts it to make a new one generally by fastening to- 

 gether two adjacent leaves. These are attached along 

 the edges by silken strands in such a way as to give con- 



