LEAF-ROLLERS. 137 



in aspect, it is not easy to understand. The female 

 has only the smallest imaginable apologies for wings, 

 and during her whole lifetime never leaves her 

 home, seeming to despise earth as she cannot 

 attain air. 



This moth is not obliged to form laboriously a 

 warm habitation for her eggs, for she places them 

 in a silken web which she occupied in her pupal 

 state, and from which she never travels. 



Curiously enough, her eggs are not placed within 

 the hollow of the cocoon as might be supposed, but 

 are scattered irregularly and apparently at random 

 over its surface. Even there, though, they are 

 warm enough, for the cocoon itself is generally 

 placed in a sheltered spot, so that the eggs are 

 guarded from the undue influence of the elements, 

 and at the same time protected from too rapid 

 changes of temperature. 



In the hot summer months, the leaves of trees are 

 crowded with insects of various kinds, which fly out 

 in alarm when the branches are sharply struck. 

 Oak trees are especially insect-haunted, and mostly 

 by one species of moth, a figure which is given on 

 plate B, fig. 1. 



This little moth is a pretty object to the eyes, but 

 a terrible destructive creature when in its caterpillar 

 state, compensating for its diminutive size by its 

 collective numbers. The caterpillar is one of those 

 called " Leaf- Boilers," because they roll up the 



