THE TRIBE OF THE LARGER SKIPPERS 273 



insects that live upon or within the various tissues of this 

 tree. The leaves alone provide a home for a remarkably 

 large number of insect species scattered through a great 

 manj^ orders and families. The thickened blades seem to 

 furnish an ideal opportunity for many larvae to get their 

 living, and they are particularly useful to those which need 

 to make a winter nest. 



By a little searching almost any time after the middle 

 of June, one is likely to find a curious caterpillar home 

 upon some of the oak leaves. The margin of the blade 

 has been turned over, generally from above downward but 

 sometimes from below upward, and has been fastened 

 down to the main expanse of the blade by means of golden 

 threads; commonly this fastening is not continuous but is 

 more or less intermittent, so that the turned-over margin 

 is likely to have an irregular border where it joins the 

 blade. Inside of this tubular construction a rather un- 

 usual looking worm-like caterpillar is probably to be seen. 

 Late in the season it will probably be nearly an inch long, 

 with a smooth greenish body and a head that may be a bit 

 brownish and more or less marked on the sides with 

 orange tones. 



This is the larva of one of the most widely distributed 

 Skippers — Juvenal's Dusky-wing. The species is found 

 from southern New Hampshire west to the Great Plains 

 and south to the Gulf of Mexico. In most localities it is 

 seldom abundant but yet is so general that it may be 

 found by almost every persistent collector. The wings 

 expand about an inch and a half and are of a dull browTiish 

 color, more or less marked with darker and lighter spots. 

 Toward the northern limits of its range there is but one 

 brood a year but farther south there are two, although it 



