LEPIDOPTERA. 



285 



LlTHOCOLLETIS. 



This genus is very common on the leaves of several forest trees. 

 The larva mines the leaves of trees and shrubs, sometimes simply 

 creating a flat blotch on the under side of the leaf, at other times mak- 

 ing the blotch in such a manner that a pucker is produced either on 

 the upper or under side of the leaf. The larva never quits the mine. 

 Some species make no cocoons ; others, cocoons of various kinds. 



The perfect insects are very small in size. They have a rough head 

 and smooth face. The antennae are rather 

 long, but not so long as the anterior wings. 



The rarvse have only fourteen legs and one 

 pair of ventral pro-legs. 



The pupa is either naked or enclosed in a 

 cocoon, and in the former the wing-cases are 

 quite free. 



As regards artificial hatching, many species 

 can be picked up in autumn, as the blotches 

 appear quite conspicuous on the fallen leaves. 

 They may be collected and placed on the 

 ground in a canvas bag for the winter months. 

 In early spring they may be removed from the 

 bags and placed in glass cases. The imagines 

 appear in May. 



LlTHOCOLLETIS MESSANIELLA, Zellei'. 



The larvse of this species are very injurious 

 to the foliage of the evergreen oak (Quercus 

 ilex). In the evergreen oak we find several 

 distinct varieties of the tree, and it may be said, 

 though the injuries of this species of moth are 

 practically identical so far as the physiology 

 of the damage is concerned, yet the general appearance of the damage 

 itself is somewhat different. In the case of the holm oak proper, the 

 leathery leaves are blotched "brown" and withered -looking. In the 

 case of the other variety, the injuries are not so conspicuous on the 

 upper surface, and on the under surface we get a delicate white patch, 

 and prior to the eruption of the skin it looks as if a very fine piece of 

 tissue-paper had been pasted on the under side of the leaf (fig. 272). 



Fig. 272. Typical Notch of 

 Lithocolletis on species of 

 evergreen oak. 



