ENTOMOLOGY 269 



there are five pairs of pro-legs, the last pair projecting behind when 

 the larva is at rest. 



The caterpillars are about twenty days in getting their growth 

 and shed their skins three times or pass through four stages during 

 this period. Usually they move about but little, almost completely 

 devouring one leaf before going to another. When touched, however, 

 they are very active, wriggling quickly backward or forward. 



When full grown the caterpillar folds in a lobe of the leaf and 

 fastens it securely with silk ; if the leaf is not lobed, the caterpillar 

 will eat into it to loosen a piece which it then folds over. In either 

 case the inside of the folded portion is thoroughly lined with silk. 

 In this cocoon, the caterpillar transforms in a day or two into the 

 third stage of the insect's life the pupa or quiescent stage. The 

 pupa is not quite half an inch long and is dark brown in color, lighter 

 on the venter. The pupal stage lasted from twelve to seventeen days. 

 The emergence of the moth then completed the life-cycle of the insect 

 as observed in the greenhouses here. As the life-cycle may be passed 

 through in from forty-four to fifty days, and as the insect breeds 

 freely during the whole year in greenhouses, seven or eight genera- 

 tions may occur indoors. 



With so many broods in a year, this insect is capable of doing 

 much damage even to outdoor crops. When once thoroughly estab- 

 lished in a greenhouse it will ruin thousands of soft-leaved plants 

 unless it is persistently watched and fought. 



The only method by which they have thus far been able to 

 materially reduce the numbers of the pest in the Horticultural green- 

 houses is by hand-picking or killing. All hands are constantly on 

 the lookout for signs of the insect and every specimen of moth, cater- 

 pillar or pupa found is at once killed. Forty of the moths have been 

 killed in one morning in the houses, and scarcely a day passes that 

 many of the leaf-tyers are not thus sent to their "happy hunting 

 grounds." The moths are quite easily caught or crushed in their 

 resting places and the caterpillars are readily located by their work 

 on the leaves, and by a constant warfare of this kind the pest can be 

 kept below the danger limit, but, as those who have had experience 

 know, the few remaining stragglers can often annoy the lover of 

 perfect-leaved, symmetrical plants, more than a host of plant-lice, 

 mealy-bugs, or scale insects. (A 2 Bui. 190 Cornell E. S.) 



Bud Gnat of Roses. Occasionally the buds of roses in green- 

 houses turn black, due to the presence therein of a footless orange- 

 colored grub. This is the larva of a small gnat which works between 

 the sepals and the bud. It is usually kept under control by the 

 fumigations with tobacco. 



The Gad Fly of Violets. This pest is the most destructive in- 

 sect affecting the violet. The adult is a small fly or gnat, which de- 

 velops from a yellow-colored grub, that feeds in the crowns of the 

 plants. The worm folds the young tender leaves, stunting the plant 

 and causing it to send out side crowns and suckers, which do not 

 develop high-grade flowers. 



