NO. 7 



THE GOLD-BANDED SKIPPER CLARK 37 



I 



The entire roof of the shelter is sometimes lined with silk, but in 

 this case the band down the middle is always much more dense than 

 the rest. 



To recapitulate, the densest bands of silk are spun ( i ) in the peak 

 of the shelter, (2) down the anterior part of the shelter, and (3) at 

 the ends of the line of folding. x\ll these bands are so strong that if 

 the shelter is pulled apart the leaflet will tear around their ends. They 

 are responsible for the form and for the security of the shelter. They 

 are so very much stronger than the few threads used to fasten the 

 angles of the flap down upon the surface of the leaflet that when these 

 are cut after the abandonment of the shelter, the latter retains its 

 form and is quite indistinguishable, unless touched, from an inhabited 

 shelter. The broad network down the middle of the top of the shelter 

 is considerably more dense than the relatively open, though complete, 

 network that covers the floor of the shelter and makes it concave ; 

 this last is more dense peripherally than in the central portion. 



The caterpillar enters and leaves the shelter under the inner edge — 

 that is, the edge toward the middle of the leaflet. Within the shelter 

 it always rests on the under side of the roof extended at full length 

 with its head in the apex of the cone. 



The path of the caterpillar from the shelter to the feeding area on 

 the opposite border of the leaflet or in the later stages on another 

 leaflet is marked by a runway of irregularly zigzag silk threads. 



The original shelter is occupied for only a short time. It is then 

 abandoned, first being rendered useless by the cutting of the threads 

 that hold the flap down upon the upper surface of the leaflet. A second 

 shelter is made which is abandoned and rendered useless in the same 

 way, and others follow suit. 



The first two shelters are usually made on the same side of the same 

 leaflet, the second nearer the base than the first. The third is either 

 on the other side of the same leaflet, or upon an adjoining leaflet. 

 The large shelters of the third-stage caterpillars are always solitary, 

 each on a leaflet by itself. 



A single leaflet will commonly have three or four shelters along 

 the margin of its outer half, but sometimes more are found, and on 

 one leaflet we found no less than eight. 



As the eggs are deposited usually two or three to a leaflet, the 

 shelters nearest the base of the leaflet on each side are commonly 

 occupied, the others empty. Sometimes three caterpillars are found 

 on a single leaflet, though this is unusual. As a rule only two cater- 

 pillars will be found on a single leaflet, the others, if there are more 

 than two eggs in the string, going to the adjacent leaflets. 



