221 



I'estcd. It is. supposed to have been caiTied into that State in carriages 

 of tourists from Massachusetts. This report is by uo means unexpected 

 but needs verification. 



MICROPTERYX: A REMARKABLE LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVA. 



At the nu'etinji" of the Entomological Society of London, July 1, 1891 

 (see Proceedings, i)ublished in the Transactions Ent. Soc, Lond., Part 

 HI, 1801), Dr. Algernon Chapman exliibited the larv^ic of Mirropferi/.v 

 valthelhi, stating that they were obtained by placing the moths in a cage 

 with damp moss or leaves and other debris from the surface of the 

 ground. The moths crept into this to the depth of half an inch, laying 

 their eggs in groups of six U) twelve in narrow cavities. The larvae 

 l)roduc«d from these eggs had a, length of about a millimeter, possess- 

 ing on each segment eight i^rocesses (►f globular form, each raised upon 

 a very slight pedicel. The remarkable fact is that besides the thoracic 

 legs each of the eight abdominal segments is said by Dr. Chapman to 

 l)ossess a pair of minute jointed legs of the same type as the thoracic. 



On the supposition that uo mistake has been made, this larva is very 

 remarkable in the order Lepidoptera. It is worthy of remark, however, 

 that while the species of Micropteryx, so far as known, are leaf-miners, 

 and nothing remarkable in their structure has hitherto been noted, since 

 they are like sonu; other Tineid miners, apodous, this species caJtliella 

 has been i)laced by Heinemann in the genus Eriocephala, concerning the 

 larval habits or structure of which nothing appears to be known. We 

 hardly dare suggest the possibility that Dr. Chapman has mistaken 

 the eggs of some other creature for those of this species; but as the 

 larvjE are mentioned as only a millimeter long, there is a possibility 

 that this peculiarity is one of the first larval stages only, and is there- 

 fore comparable to other postembryonic abnormalities which are no- 

 ticed in other Lepidopterous larvae. 



DAMAGE TO APPLE TREES NEAR LONDON. 



According to BelVs WeeMy Messenger, London, July C, many aDple 

 trees in London suburban gardens are in danger from the attacks of 

 myriads of the larvie of the small Ermine Moth {HypomomeuUi padella). 

 Many trees have been killed already. Such a state of affairs as this is 

 inexcusable, for the reason tliat this insect is not at all a difficult one to 

 fight. The fact that the larv;ie spin their cocoons in company renders 

 hand destruction very easy, and where they can not be reached by hand 

 a jet of kerosene emulsion from a bucket pump will penetrate the web 

 and destroy the insects. In our visits to London we have always noticed 

 that this insect, as also the Woolly Aphis and the Codling ]\Ioth, were 

 unusually abundant and destructive to the apple trees, which are quite 



