SUMMER NUMBER 3 
egg takes on a creamy tinge, on the sixth day a faint mottling 
appears near the apex and on the eighth day the dark head of 
the young larva can plainly be seen through the shell. The 
embryo lies coiled around the circumference of the egg with 
the head a little to one side of the center. The first break in 
the shell is made by pressure of the mandibles and the larva 
then proceeds to cut an irregular hole in the apex, rotating with- 
in the egg during the process. When the opening is as large 
as its head the larva emerges. The entire operation occupies 
some time, one larva which broke the shell at 8:00 A. M. having 
just released itself at 3:00 P. M. In the meantime the head of 
this larva changed from chocolate-brown to glistening black. 
The empty egg-shell is translucent white, waxy and parchment- 
like in texture except the flat base which is transparent. 
After a brief survey of the immediate vicinity the newly 
hatched larva returns to the egg shell and consumes it, leaving 
only the disk-like base which it cannot be induced to touch even 
when it has been loosened from the leaf. This little glistening 
disk can almost invariably be found somewhere on each infested 
plant. After breakfasting on the egg-shell the small larva se- 
lects a location on the upper surface of the leaf, near the edge 
and begins to construct its retreat by placing a layer of silk 
fibers on the surface. The effect of this is quickly seen in the 
gradual curling of the blade. When a groove has been thus 
formed the opposite edges are connected by a silk fiber which 
bridges the concavity. This fiber is added to until it forms a 
strong strand and its contraction draws the edge over until it 
touches the surface of the blade, after which other similar at- 
tachments are formed at short intervals until a complete tube, 
open at both ends is formed. In the finished retreat of a full 
grown larva there are from five to twelve such fastenings. In 
the instances observed by the writer the fold was always over 
onto the upper surface of the leaf, but Mr. McConnell has noted 
that at Greenwood, Miss., larvae feeding on sorghum folded the 
leaf upward and downward in about equal numbers. The earlier 
retreats are generally near the tip. Later the edges of a nar- 
row leaf may be drawn together or the margin drawn over to 
the midrib at any point along the blade. When the roll is com- 
plete the larva cuts a deep narrow notch into the leaf at each 
end and seals the ends. The skill with which the weak and 
apparently helpless larva manipulates the thick, stiff corn leaf 
is remarkable. 
