150 



INSECTS AFFECTING THE ORANGE. 



LEAF-EATEES WITHOUT CASES. 

 ARTACE PUNCTISTRIGA Walker. 



The following account of this insect appears in the report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for 1880, p. 252 : 



" There is occasionally to be found upon the orange a fusiform white 

 silken cocoon, an inch and a half in length. From this cocoon there, 

 issues in spriug a thick-bodied woolly white moth, the female measuring 

 an inch and three-quarters, and the male an inch and one-quarter across 

 the wings. Each fore wing has five transverse rows of small black 

 dots. We have riot seen the caterpillar which spins this cocoon, but 

 from an examination of the cast-off skin to be found at the end of the 

 pupa, and from other facts, we may readily state it to be a rather thick 

 larva, about an inch and a half in length, and covered with long mixed 

 black and whitish hairs, giving it a grayish effect.- These cocoons are 

 not confined to orange, but are also found upon the grass at the foot of 

 the tree, and one specimen received was evidently found upon cherry, 

 as pieces of the bark still adhered. The species seems to be compara- 

 tively rare, but, as we have said before of other species, it is liable at 

 any time to increase and become injurious; therefore the sooner it is 

 treated of the better. As one of the causes of its rarity we may mention 

 the existence of a large ichneumonid parasite, which we have not been 

 able to breed, owing to the fact that it in its turn is parasitized by a 

 chalcid, of which we have bred thirty-six specimens from a single co- 

 coon, all having made their exit, as usual, from a single hole. It is pos- 

 sible that this chalcid may also be a primary parasite. The specimens 



were referred to Mr. Howard for study, and 

 decided to be a new species of the genus 

 Encyrtus of Dalman." It was described (loo. 

 cit.) as Encyrtus artacece n. sp. 



THE GRASS -WORM. 



(Laphygma frugiperda, Sm. & Abb.) 

 [Figs. 69 and 70.) 



Patches of the eggs of this common moth 

 are very commonly found on orange leaves. 

 But although the young caterpillars eat the 

 leaves to some extent, they soon find their 

 way to some other and more succulent food- 

 plant. Full-grown, caterpillars are scarcely 

 ever seen upon the Orange, although they 



can be bred upon it in confinement. 

 The eggs are dull white, with a pearly luster. The clusters contain a 



variable number of eggs, and are covered with mouse colored down from 



the body of the mother. 



FIG. 69. Laphygma 

 a, larva, natural size ; 

 c, middle joint from above; cf, 

 do.from side, enlarged. (After 

 Riley.) 



