82 



COLEOPHORA SICCIFOLIA. 



[Plate I. Fig. 3. 



fuscous, would enable the expe- 

 rienced collector to recognize the 

 imago of C. siccifolia. 



Mode of Life. 

 The larva mines the leaves of the 

 hawthorn, apple and birch, forming 

 blotches of a peculiar yellowish- 

 brown colour. As soon as the first 

 mine is big enough it cuts out a 

 piece to form a case ; this is always 

 very much wider than the larva 

 actually requires, and the larva ac- 

 cordingly constructs within this piece 

 of leaf, and generally at one side of 

 it, a silken tube, which forms, as it 

 were, the true case ; the unoccupied 

 portion of the detached leaf curls 

 over considerably, sometimes being 

 almost doubled over the occupied 

 portion ; the larva crawls in this 

 case to another leaf, and makes 

 another blotch by eating out a large 

 portion of the parenchyma. When 

 the case begins to be rather too small 

 for the larva, it eats out a more ex- 

 tended area in a new leaf, and then, 

 leaving its old case attached to the 

 leaf, it cuts out a larger piece of ex- 

 cavated leaf to form its fresh case ; 

 this, however, is made exactly in the 

 same style as the previous one, but 

 being much larger, its peculiarities 

 are exaggerated and more conspicu- 

 • ous. Of all the cases constructed 

 by Cohvphura larva out of leaves 

 this is the most extraordinary ; many 

 others are more beautiful, and, vie wed 

 as works of art, more interesting, 

 but we know of no other leaf-made 

 case which is encumbered with what 

 appears a useless appendage ; the 



aux antennes blanches annulees de 

 brunatre, Tentomologiste experi- 

 mente ne tarderait pas a reconnaitre 

 le papillon de la C. siccifolia. 



Maniere de vivre. 

 La chenille mine les feuilles de 

 1'aubepine, du pommier et du bou- 

 leau, formant des taches d'une couleur 

 brune-jaunatre tres-prononcee. Aus- 

 sitot que la premiere mine est assez 

 grande, la chenille en decoupe une 

 portion pour former son fourreau; 

 cependant le morceau qu'elle de- 

 tache ainsi, est toujours beaucoup 

 plus grand que la chenille ; a l'inte- 

 rieur de ce morceau la chenille se met 

 a filer un tube de soie, presque tou- 

 jours vers un des bords du morceau 

 de feuille, et ce tube forme pour ainsi 

 dire le vrai fourreau ; la portion du 

 fragment foliaire detache qui n'est 

 pas occupee se recourbe beaucoup, 

 et se montre quelquefois comme 

 pliee en deux contre la portion 

 habitee. La chenille se promene 

 dans ce fourreau a une autre feuille, 

 oil elle produit une grande tache en 

 y mangeant le parenchyme. Lorsque 

 la chenille se trouve a l'etroit dans son 

 fourreau, elle creuse une plus grande 

 mine dans une feuille, et laissant 

 l'ancien fourreau attache a cette 

 feuille, elle en decoupe une plus 

 grande portion, qui lui sert a former 

 un fourreau nouveau ; celui-la se fait 

 precisement de la meme maniere 

 que celui que la chenille avait deja 

 habite, seulement etant beaucoup 

 plus grand, sa forme bizarre est en- 

 core plus remarquable. De tous 

 les fourreaux que construisent les 

 chenilles du genre Coleophora et qui 



