250 ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



Tortricidae. 



LEAF-ROLLERS. 



The insects of this family mostly have the habit of rolling up the young leaves of trees, 

 either one or more in a single roll, and confining them with sillien threads. 1 hey are small, 

 seldom in the larval state exceeding an inch in length. The moth is nocturnal, small, 

 usually gray and obscurely banded, rarely ornamented with bright colors. The larva; have 

 sixteen legs each, and their bodies are naked, or only clothed with a few hairs in tufts : 

 they spin a thread of silk from the mouth, with which, when disturbed, they let themselves 

 partly down to the ground, where they remain suspended until the danger is past. The 

 moth, though small, is broader across the forepart than in those of other families. They 

 inflict serious injuries upon trees, by feeding on the buds and blossoms. 



LoxoTJENiA rosaceahaI Rosc Lcaf-rolUr. (Plate vi, figs. 8-11.) 



Color light brown, grayish brown, light cinnamon-brown. Forewings traversed b^ two or 

 three narrow brown bands : when the wings are closed, the bands form a quadrangu- 

 lar figure on the back ; these bands are variable, as well as the colors of the moth. 

 Hindwings yellowish white or grayish yellow. Expanse of wing about one inch. 

 The larva is green, naked : head brownish, smooth, glossy : rings of the integument 

 sheathing the head, yellowish white : six true legs, eight middle and two prop-legs. 

 At the extremity of the abdomen, two or three small greenish warts, which give 

 origin to a few hairs. Feeds upon plum, rose, and other leaves and flowers. Largest, 

 three quarters of an inch long ; sometimes one inch, but usually a little less : the 

 figure is smaller than common. 

 The pupa is brown, enclosed in the rolled leaves, and suspended by the tail. 

 This is a very troublesome insect. In my garden, the larvae every year destroy most of 

 the plums on a fine tree, besides checking the regular growth of the young limbs, which, 

 when the buds are destroyed, never grow more than an inch or two in the spring ; and the 

 effects of the insects are also seen in the knotty condition of the young shoots. The eggs 

 are laid in patches upon the bark in the month of June or July, where they remain until 

 the tree begins to put forth its leaves, when the larvse make their appearance, and almost 

 every twig has been for some years infested with them. 



The best way to deal with this species of Tortrix, is to rub the bark of the trunk and 



limbs of the tree with a knife or some other proper instrument, by which means the eggs 



will be destroyed ; and then wash the bark thoroughly with an alkaline solution, or with 



, whale-oil soap : or if the trunk and limbs are whitewashed in the autumn or spring, just 



