22 LESSER APPLE LEAF-FOLDER. 



appearance of his apple nursery, the foliage looking', at a distance, 

 as if it had been scorched by lire. Upon entering the inclosure, 

 the authors of the mischief were readily detected. Upon putting 

 apart the two halves of the folded leaves, a little worm could occa- 

 sionally be seen, but at this date most of them had passed into 

 the pupa state, and many of the moths had already emerged, so 

 that a flock of them could be put to flight almost anywhere by 

 brushing against the plants. Mr. Weir says that as little known 

 as this insc-t seems to be, this is not the first year that they have 

 injured his nursery. 



There are at least two broods of this insect in a season. The 

 first brood of moths, according to Mr. Weir, make their appear- 

 ance early enough to deposit their eggs in the folds of the young 

 leaves just as they begin to open. Another brood was just emerg- 

 ingj as I have above stated, in the third week of July. This brood, 

 as Mr. W, afterwards informed me, by letter, began at once to 

 deposit their eggs upon such leaves as had not been injured. Ac- 

 cording to my own observation, the caterpillars of the earlier 

 broud draw the opposite edges of the leaf up^vards, by means of 

 their web, till they meet, thus forming a roof over the insect, 

 which protects it from the weather, and must also serve to conceal 

 it in a great measure from birds and other enemies. It must also 

 form a serious barrier to the eflective use of any destructive ap- 

 plications on our own part. But Mr. Weir informs me that the 

 young of the last brood, hatching as they do on the surface of the 

 mature and rigid leaf, do not draw its edges together, but simply 

 protect themselves by constructing a web over the surface of the 

 leaf. From the above account, it is evident that this little insect 

 resembles, in most of its habits, the larger and more common Tor- 

 trix of the apple and the rose. In what form they pass the win- 

 ter I believe has not yet been determined. 



If this insect should spread so as to infest other nurseries, as it 

 has that of Mr. Weir, it would prove itself a pest of the most se- 

 rious character '; and, as far as we can judge, from present appear 

 ances it will be a difficult matter to reach them with remedial 

 agencies, both on account of the closure of the leaf in which they 

 dwell, and their webby covering. Fortunately, as is the case with 

 most other donblo-brooded insects, the tirst bruod is comparatively 

 limited in numbers ; and Mr. Weir thinks it would have paid him 



