LEAP-ROLLERS ON ORANGE. 151 



The caterpillars grow to the length of an iiu;li and a half. They are 

 very variable in color, the young being dark, sometimes nearly black, 

 and the adults of lighter color, varying from brown to pale green, 

 with line niottlings of other colors. Several 

 broad stripes of dark and light brown, run- 

 ning from head to tail, render this caterpil- 

 lar conspicuous and easily recognized. 



The moth belongs to the numerous group 

 of Owlet Moths, called in the South " Candle 

 Flies." It has narrow fi'ont wings of gray 

 and brown, finely intermingled ; and the semi- 

 transparent hind wings of dull white, with 

 smoky margins. Spread of wings about one 

 and a quarter inches. 



The pupa is polished, mahogany-brown, 

 and is formed in a simple, unline<l cell be- p.,^. -o.-Laphyffma frufjiperda: 

 neath the surface of the ground. The trans- ^f '-*l:;t^%:;i ^Z. 'J-^^^ 

 formations of this insect are completed in obscura-uatuiai size. (Alter 

 one month. There are several broods, but 

 the worms are most numerous in August, and the moths in September. 



Orange groves which are kept clean will not be liable to injury from 

 the Grass-worm, which feeds naturally upon grass and succulent herbs. 

 Young groves are sometimes attacked when they are allowed to become 

 foul and only cultivated at long intervals. The amount of damage done 

 by this caterpillar is small, but it may, under special conditions, become 

 a serious pest. Clean culture will in such cases prove an allsutiicient 

 remedy. 



LEAF-ROLLERS. 



Slender, almost naked, worms, of small size, and usually yellowish- 

 green in color, whi(;h roll ui» leaves, or bind together tender bud-leaves, 

 to form a i)rotecting tube, within which they lurk and feed, and in time 

 transform to piipre. 



Before the moth issues, the pupa is pushed partly out of the tubular 

 shield of leaves. Fig. 71 shows the pu[)a of Plaiynota ro,strana pro- 

 truding from the side of a folded orange leaf. 



The adults are rather small moths, with pointed heads, and oblong, 

 somewhat heavy fore wings, which, wlien folded, form a roof-like ridge 

 over the body. 



The eggs are laid upon the surfaces of leaves, in elongate, oval 

 patches of transparent yellowish-green color. In these patches each 

 egg forms an excessively thin overlapping scale, and the whole mass of 

 fifty to eighty eggs is thus tirndy knit together, and can be removed 

 from the leaf without separating. The thinness and cellular structure 

 of the egg-cluster give it a resemblan(;e to certain low forms of vegeta- 

 ble life, and it might readily be mistaken for a mold or a lichen. 



