4 THE FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST 
During the day the larva never leaves its refuge but feeds 
on the leaf close to the ends of the tube or on the tube itself. 
At night other parts of the leaf or even other leaves are eaten. 
When one retreat is outgrown or consumed another is con- 
structed near by. The feeding is spasmodic, sometimes nothing 
being eaten for two or three days and then in a night almost 
all of a small plant consumed. When ravenously hungry a larva 
will cut holes and notches in a leaf without waiting to construct 
a retreat. The larva at any age seems unable to cling to the 
naked leaf surface but when moving about always swings its 
head from side to side laying down silk fibers to which it clings. 
In this manner it readily climbs a perpendicular glass surface. 
Excrement is ejected with a snap which sends it to a distance 
of two or three feet from the plant. 
The newly hatched larva is pale yellow with glistening black 
head and with a single narrow black cervical band separated a 
short distance from the head and running’ down on each side 
to the latero-ventral margin where it ends in a small black dot. 
The neck-like appearance, caused by a decided constriction of 
the body just behind the head, is more conspicuous in the later 
stages as is also the vertical position of the head. The body is 
provided with scattering minute shining hairs, a pair of which 
projecting caudad are somewhat larger than the rest. As the 
larva feeds it assumes a greenish color which, in the second and 
later instars, is covered with a glaucous, frost-like overcolor. A 
darker green meso-dorsal line appears and the caudal end of the 
body becomes flattened and boat-shaped, covering and conceal- 
ing the caudal pair of legs. A pair of black dots on the third 
segment from the caudal end becomes more conspicuous with 
each succeeding molt. The surface of the head becomes granular 
and sparingly hirsute and under a lens the skin of the body is 
seen to be covered with minute black bristles. 
There are five instars which may be distinguished by the 
’ head widths as given below in millimeters: 
Instar Average Maximum Minimum 
LIN AGS Reet ie oe eRe RAE 0.6249 0.6530 0.6063 
SGGOM Geer rere te ee ee 0.9001 0.9328 0.7929 
PUT eee eee ein aT Re 12599 1.3059 1.2126 
HOUT teeters eet ered) Vee AE ee Ps 1.7492 1.8656 1.5858 
URE: G eee er eenreee en rene Sa oe eae 2.38599 2.5186 2.2387 
These measurements were taken from a large number of head 
casts and while there is considerable variation within each in- 
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