ATTACKING THE LEAVES. 97 



by devouring the terminal buds on the branches. In the 

 larval state the mischief is done; it is then a small pale- 

 greenish or yellowish-green caterpillar, sometimes tinged with 

 pink on the back. Its head is yellowish, with a black dot on 

 each side, and there is a patch or shield of a yellowish color 

 on the upper part of the next segment. 



The eggs from which these caterpillars hatch are deposited 

 singly upon the terminal buds. The young larva, after de- 

 vouring the bud, fastens the leaf-stalk of one of the leaves 

 growing near the tip to the side of the branch, and thus 

 forms for itself a sort of burrow between the leaf-stalk and 

 the branch, in which it hides during the day, issuing from its 

 retreat at night to feed on the leaf so secured. When this is 

 consumed, it is said to feed for a time on the newly-formed 

 wood, and sometimes eats its way a short distance into the 

 twig. The caterpillar about this time deserts its burrow on 

 the branch, and constructs a yellow, woolly tube or case upon 

 one of the leaves, in which it lives, issuing at night to feed as 

 heretofore, and when the leaf on which it is placed is almost 

 consumed, the larva drags the case to an adjoining leaf. As 

 it approaches maturity, it becomes of a dark flesh-color ; its 

 body is marked with a number of small shining spots, and 

 its head and the horny shield on the next segment are black. 

 When full grown, it measures about half an inch in length ; 

 it then closes its case with a silken lid and changes to a chrys- 

 alis within it, from which the moth appears about a week or 

 ten days later. 



The fore wings of the moth are white, mottled and spotted 

 with greenish brown; there is a large grayish-brown spot 

 at the tip, mottled with white, and another, towards the base 

 of the wing, of a darker shade ; the front edge is mottled 

 with grayish brown. The hind wings are dusky. There is 

 only one brood of these insects during the year. 



The tips of the infested branches usually die back as far 

 as the base of the first perfect leaf, where a new bud forms, 

 which takes the place of the terminal bud. As the branch 



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