INSECTS INJURING LOCUST LEAVES. 361 



AFFECTING THE LEAVES. 



4. The locust leaf-kollek. 



Pempelia (Salebria) contatella Grote. 



Order Lepidoptera ; family Pyralid^. 



We have observed these worms iu Maine at work on the locust during 

 the middle and last of August. They began to pupate August 28, and 

 the moths appeared June L of the following year. They generally draw 

 two leaves together, and in this way their presence is indicated. 



On the 29th of August Prof. Comstock found them on the locust 

 {Robinia pseudacacia), in the department grounds, drawing the leaves 

 together, the side of one to that of another. 



The smallest larv?e observed by Comstock, August 28, at Washington, 

 at this time, were about one-eighth of an inch long, yellowish-green, 

 with jet-black head and thoracic plate. The larvte transformed to pupfe 

 between the 5th and 8th of September and emerged in the following May. 



As none of the pupae of this insect could be found among the leaves 

 on the tree a careful search was made on the ground beneath, where a 

 pupa was found spun up in a tough silken cocoon to which earth, frag- 

 ments of leaves, and dry grass were adhering in such a manner as to 

 completely conceal it. 



Mr. A. R. Grote, who originally described this species, also described 

 a variety of it under the name of quinquepunctella, and stated that it 

 might be a distinct species from contatella. Most of the examples men- 

 tioned above agree with the typical contatella, while one of them is 

 undoubtedly the var. quinquepunctella. 



This species has also been reported from New England, New York, 

 and London, Ontario. 



Remedy. — Gather all the leaves beneath the trees after September 

 and burn them. 



Larva, — Body large, broad, gradually tapering towards the end of the body. 

 Head black, smooth, not so wide as the prothoracic shield, which is large and jet 

 black. (In the young the head and shield are reddish black.) Body pale pea-green ; 

 sutures yellowish. Body obscurely mottled with yellowish green. The piliferous 

 warts are minute and obscure, the four dorsal ones arranged in a square. Body 

 obscurely liueated with yellowish-green lines, of which there are about five on each 

 side of the dark-green median line. The hairs reddish or horn-colored. Length, 

 20™™. 



P«^a.— Length, 10'°™, rather stout. Color, chestnut brown. Anterior end rounded ; 

 posterior with a minute beak, curving downward slightly, and armed at the end on 

 each side with a sharp, stout spine extending obliquely out and downwards. In a 

 row between these, at equal distances, are four slim filaments much longer than the 

 spines and hooked at the end. The abdominal segments are covered above and below 

 with coarse punctures, except on the posterior edge, while the wing-covers, head, 

 and thorax above are impressed with irregular striiB. (Comstock, 1880.) 



The moth. — The fore wings expand 20""" to 26™™ (nearly 1 inch), and are blackish 

 and gray, with a shading of red at the base and near the middle of the wing below 

 the fold. These reddish shades are sometimes wanting. Base of the wing usually 

 •whitish gray. 



