BLUEBERRY INSECTS IN MAINE, 



281 



HABITS. 



Several times the writer has had an opportunity to watch 

 half-grown larvae removed from the fruit burrow into a fresli 

 berry, and the process seemed to be practically the same in all 

 cases. When the larva is first put on a new berry, it leaves 

 it and wanders around uneasily for half or three-quarters of 

 an hour, finally returning to the fruit. For a few minutes it 



Fig. 58. Epinotia (?) sp. A. head of larva; B. 5th abdominal seg- 

 ment of larva, right lateral aspect; C. antenna of larva. All enlarged. 



wanders about the outside, apparently eating something from 

 the surface although the bloom is not rubbed off. Invariably the 

 larva goes to the calyx cup in order to enter the fruit. If the 

 berry is of small or medium size, before starting to burrow, the 

 larva spins a web over the entire calyx cup, first standing right 

 side up on the bottom, spinning a few strands across one diame- 

 ter and following these with guide lines to the sides ; then stand- 

 ing wrong side up and clinging to the under surface of the 

 threads, it spins a dense network of silk enclosing the cup com- 

 pletely except for a little hole about the size of its body left 

 diagonally opposite the point where the entrance hole is to be 

 made. If the berry is an especially large one, frequently the 

 larva spins over only half of the calyx cup, making in this case 

 two silken walls at right angles to one another. Here too a 

 hole is left in the silk. While spinning the caterpillars cling to 

 their support by their prolegs, waving the head and thorax 

 back and forth and from side to side. The silk appears to 

 issue from the labium. 



