TiESSEB APPLE LEAF-FOLDEE. 21 



wiiole caterpillar is of a pale browniBh tint. Usually, one cater- 

 pillar, sometimes two or three, eats off the upper cuticle of the 

 leaf, curling the two sides upwards till the edges nearly or quite 

 meet, and tying them togetlie: with web. In this inclosure the 

 little caterpillar goes through its transformations. It lines the 

 opposite sides of the leaf where the pupa lies with fine white silk. 



Pupa three-tenths of an inch long or a little less; terminating anteriorly in a little 

 knob attached by a neck. There is a series of minute points upon the edge of some of 

 the segments, and the posterior extremity is furnished with two hooks, bent downwards, 

 by means of which the^pupa works itself half way out of the closed edges of the leaf 

 before the moth emerges. 



Moth three-tenths of an inch long, average expanse of wings half an inch. Anten- 

 nsB brown, annulated with whitish on each joint, most distinctly on the under side, first 

 joint densely clothed with orange scales. Palpi, orange, horizontal; the scales project 

 around and beyond the end of the pentultimate joint so as to form a little cup in which 

 the small ultimate joint is inserted. Maxillary palpi rudimental. Tegulje well devel- 

 oped, more than half as long as the thorax. Head, thorax and fore wings bright orange. 

 The orange scales which cover the wings are observed when carefully examined, or seen 

 through a lens, to be mixed with numerous whitish, almost silvery scales, so arranged as 

 to form about ten indistinct, transverse sinuous or wavy lines. Hind wings, abdomen 

 and legs whitish with silken lustre. There is a little plume of divergent scales at the 

 end of the abdomen. 



ThiB little insect furnishes a very remarkable example of the 

 sudden appearance and rapid multiplication of noxious species. 

 The moth is so rare that I cannot learn that it has ever before 

 been seen even by entomologists. There is not a specimen of it 

 in the collections of either Mr. Walsh or Mr. Riley ; and Mr. 

 Glover, of Washington, who is himself an experienced lepidopte- 

 rist and is familiar with most of the eastern collections, and to 

 whom I had an opportunity of showing my specimens, said he had 

 never seen it, and remarked that the species is so peculiar that he 

 knew he should recollect it if he had ever met with it.* And yet 

 this summer, in a single nursery of young apple trees, specimens 

 enough could have been captured to supply all the cabinets in the 

 world. 



All I know of this insect I learned during a visit to the fruit 

 farm of Mr. D. B. Weir, of Lacon, on the 22d of July. At some 

 distance from the place my attention was arrested by the blasted 



*NoTE. — Since writing the above Mr. Glover informs me by letter that he has recently 

 had occasion to visit several of the large collections of insects in Philadelphia and Bos- 

 ton, and that he could find no specimen of this moth. 



