216 Forty-second Report on tee State MusEmr. [74] 



Ornix acerifoliella. Eeed: in Eept. Ent. Soc. Ont. for 1872, p. 42-3.— 

 Lintner: in Count. Gent., xxxix, 1874, p. 631. 



Tinea irklella Chambers: in Canad. Ent., v, 1873, p. 86. 



Inourvaria irklella Chambers: in Canad. Ent., xi, 1879, p. 146; in Bull. 

 U. S. G.-G. Surv. Terr., iv, 1878, p. 151. 



Inourvaria acerifoliella. Chambers : in Bull. U. S. G.-G. Surv. Terr., iv, 1878, 

 p. 151 (references).— Packard : in Bull. No. 7, U. S. Ent. Commis., 

 1881, p. 114 (habits and description).— Walsingham : in Trans. 

 Amer. Ent. Soc, x, 1882, p. 172; in Insect Life, i, 1888, p. 147.— 

 Lintner: 1st Eept. Ins. N. Y., 1882, p. 308 (mention).— Fletcher : 

 Eept. Entomol. for 1885, p. 31-2 (severe injuries); id. for 1887, p, 38 

 (mention) ; in Trans. Ottawa Field Nat. Club, ii, 1887, p. 353-4 

 (injuries). 



This little Tineid, for some unknown reason, is remarkably local 

 having been reported from only a few localities in the United States 

 and Canada; yet when it makes its ai^pearance, it is usually so destruc- 

 tive to the foliage of the trees that it attacks, and its operations are 

 of such a peculiar character as to impart much interest to them. 



The following communication, received from a correspondent resid- 

 ing at Pittsford, Vt., tells the story of a demonstration made by it at 

 that place : 



Inclosed I send you some leaves from the sugar maple, upon which 

 you will find a small worm covered with portions of the leaf 

 which lie has cut out and appropriated for a house ; he carries it 

 about and feeds upon the leaf until it is all consumed but the 

 fiber. Nearly all the hard maple trees in our forests are as brown and 

 look as dead as though fire had been through them. "We have never 

 seen anything of the kind here before, and I would like to know 

 where they came from and what their future will be. They touch no 

 other tree but the hard maple; not even the soft maple. Any light in 

 regard to the insect will be thankfully received. 



The Leaf-case of the Caterpillar. 



The leaves sent with the above present a curious appearance and 

 would naturally arrest attention and provoke inquiry. In one of them 

 are no less than twenty-two round (or more correctly, subelliptical) 

 holes, of from one-tenth to four-tenths of an inch in diameter, while 

 several of the pieces, neatly cut out from the holes, are fastened to 

 the upper surface of the leaf. A large portion of the surface has been 

 eaten away in such a manner as to leave frequently circular patches 

 of green untouched surface, corresponding in size and form to the 

 excised pieces of leaf. 



Upon inserting the point of a needle under the edge of one of these 

 pieces, it is found to be attached to the leaf by silken threads at dif- 

 ferent parts of its circumference. On raising it, underneath is seen a 



