12 



in the remainder it was colored as in variety C, or D. Thus I have 

 found on the cherry a number of these Leaf-rollers, which had the 

 head colored as in variety B, but while in some the cervical shield 

 was colored as in this variety, in others it was colored either as in 

 variety A, or C. 



The Penthina nimbatana of Clemens is utterly indistinguishable 

 from variety A of the Greater Leaf-roller ; at least specimens of the 

 latter agree perfectly with the description of the former which I 

 took several years ago, although there may be some minute charac- 

 ter or characters by which the one may be distinguished from the 

 other. I have bred Penthina nimbatana only from the common wild- 

 rose [Rosa blanda). It binds three or more of the terminal leaflets 

 together for a habitation, and there appears to be only one brood 

 produced in one season. The Greater Leaf-roller feeds upon a 

 greater number of different kinds of plants than any other insect 

 with which I am acquainted. I have bred it from the Apple, Cherry, 

 Siberian Crab-apple, Lilac, Horse-chestnut, Tame Easpberry, Wild 

 Strawberry, Wild Eose {Rosa blanda), Burdock {Lappa officinalis), Thistle 

 {Cirsium lanceolatum) , Eed Clover {Ti'ifolium prcetense) , Eagweed {Ambro- 

 sia artimisiaefolia) , Smartweed {Polygonum pennsylvanicum) , and Knot- 

 grass {Polygonum avicularc) ; and I have found it on Dogwood {Cor- 

 nus pemiculata). Burr-oak, Poplar, Hazel {Corylus americana), Sumac 

 {Rhus glabra), Wild Easpberry {Rubus Strigosus), Wild Blackberry, 

 {Rubus villosus), Horseradish {Nasturtium armoracia), Wild Sun- 

 flower {Helianthns grosse-serratus), and Blue Vervain {Verbena has- 

 tata). On all of the above named plants I have found one or more 

 of these Leaf-rollers, each in a rolled or folded leaf, or in a cavity 

 formed by fastening two or more leaves together. On two or three 

 different occasions I found one of them in a cavity formed by fast- 

 ening together several of the terminal flower spikes of Blue Vervain, 

 and in one instance I found one in a cavity formed by fastening 

 together several of the strap-leaves or rays of a Sunflower to the 

 tops of the disk-flowers. 



From the above it will be seen that these Leaf-rollers feed not 

 only upon the leaves but also upon the flowers ; and even the fruit 

 is not exempt from their attacks, for on one occasion I found one 

 under a leaf wl^ich it had fastened to an apple, into which it had 

 gnawed quite a large cavity. 



The moth into which the Greater Leaf-roller is finally transformed, 

 was, many years ago, named by Dr. Harris the "Oblique-banded 

 Leaf-roller." It measures from the front of the head to the tip of 

 the closed wings from three to five-eighths of an inch, the females 

 being the largest. The fore-wings are of a deep cinnamon-brown 

 color, marked with numerous darker transverse dashes, and crossed 

 obliquely by three darker brown bands, one near the base, one near 

 the middle, and the third near the outer edge of the wing. The 

 outer one-half of each hind wing is pale yellowish, shading into 

 white at the basQ^of the wing; the inner one-half is blackish. One 

 would naturally suppose that an insect having such a wide range of 

 food plants would be vei*y variable in its colors and markings, but 

 such is not the case with the present species. In a series of fifteen 

 examples now before me the ground color and markings are re- 

 markably constant with two exceptions ; the specimens forming these 



