52 



These moths emerge in spring from the first to the middle of May, 

 and may be seen on warm evenings fluttering in great numbers about 

 the hedges. They are not much attracted by lamplight, but occasion- 

 ally one enters a lighted room. The eggs are laid on the under sides of 

 the Osage Orange leaves in irregularly shaped masses of from twenty- 

 five to fifty. They are circular, very flat, pale yellow, and each has 

 a delicate semitransparent membranous border. Like those of certain 

 other Pyralids, they overlap, fish-scale fashion, and as the embryo de- 

 velops each egg displays two minute black marks or lines. The larvae 

 hatch in five or six days, and, unless disturbed, remain in a close cluster, 

 feeding upon the parenchyma of the under side of the leaf, which sur- 

 face they closely resemble in color. At the slightest jar they curl up 

 and drop to the ground. In six days the first molt takes place, and, if 

 they have not sooner exhausted their food supply and been forced to 

 scatter, they now migrate in small companies to fresh leaves, which, in 

 feeding 1 , th^y begin to perforate. When not feeding they stretch them- 

 selves alongside the midrib and principal veins, where their translu- 

 cent, pale green color and very slender form enable them to escape 

 observation. As they approach maturity they become still more elu- 

 sive, retiring from the leaves during the day and resting upon the inner 

 twigs and stems, which their coloring at this period usually imitates. 

 They spin considerable web upon the under sides of the leaves, and 

 draw out the threads as they crawl back and forth from the stems to the 

 leaves. In these webs and threads more or less of the castings are 

 caught, and add to the disfigurement of the plant. 



Larva. — The full-grown larva is from eight to nine- tenths of an inch long (20 

 to 24 mm ) by about three-twentieths (4 mni ) inch in diameter in the middle when 

 crawling. It is somewhat contracted and broadened in repose. The form is sub- 

 cylindrical, tapering slightly toward either end. The color at this stage is variable, 

 in some specimens translucent pinkish, in others dull green, and again of the gray- 

 brown shade of the twigs, always obscurely striped on the dorsum and sides with a 

 darker shade of the ground color, and having a narrow, but distinct, ivory-white 

 stigmata! band. Piliferous dots black, surrounded with a paler ring, largest just 

 above stigmatal band; four in subdorsal spaces on eleventh segment being in the 

 hollow of conspicuous crescents, convex toward the sides. Head narrower than 

 thoracic joints; cordate, with rounded lobes of a pale brown color, with irregular 

 stripes in a slightly darker shade, tropin fuscous. Legs and prologs concolorous 

 with general surface. 



The cocoon in which the worm incloses itself for transformation is of 

 irregular shape and fits the chrysalis very loosely. It is of a fine tex- 

 ture and pale pinkish or dingy white color. The summer broods change 

 to chrysalis soon after inclosure, but the hibernating one remains in 

 the larva form until late in winter. The chrysalis is from 12 to 14 mm 

 long, very slender, with slight corrugations on the posterior edge of 

 the segments, and of a bright brown color. The cocoons are formed, 

 sometimes several together, among the webbed and fallen leaves on the 

 surface of the ground. At this date (December 1) the hibernating larvse 

 are somewhat shrunken and all of an opaque yellowish- white color, on 



