350 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
An examination of the external structure or vestiture of the full- 
grown larvae, however, and observations on their habits and the char- 
acter of their work will show that most of the more important species 
will fall within one or another of the groups just described. Often 
additional important clues to their identity will be discovered by con- 
sidering the region or locality in which they were collected, the food 
plants, “the solitary or gregarious habits of the larvae, and the sea- 
sonal history. 
The following key, therefore, is erected by using these groupings as 
a basis. The larval descriptions given in the key are of full- -grown 
specimens unless otherwise stated. Although necessarily incomplete, 
the key should aid materially in the identification of many of the 
more common species that inhabit the forest. It seems advisable, how- 
ever, to point out that larvae of hundreds of species not mentioned 
here will also fit into one or another of the couplets in the key and, 
too, that many species whose larvae are not strikingly marked cannot 
be specifically determined in the field. In many cases it is necessary 
to obtain the adults for identification. 
A FIELD KEY TO SOME OF THE MORE COMMON LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVAE THAT 
ATTACK FOREST AND SHADE TREES, SHRUBS, AND VINES 
if; Léafiiecders 23-2 832 322 oe ee oe a ee ee eee 2 
Not leaf feeders (borers of buds, stem, bark, wood, roots, or fruit) - 34 
2: Leaf miners, casebearers, or bagworms_________-.________=_-=__ 3 
Skeletonizers (leaves not webbed together with silk)_____________ 9 
Leaf rollers or leaf tiers (some species skeletonize the leaves) ___-__ 10 
Webworms ‘or tent makers 22 552 > S22 ean oe ko. eee eee 1 
Bree feeders Asc 5 set a os Bo) ees ee i ae pe 12 
3. Noneasebeaning Teak miners: 2s as eee ee eee 4 
Casebearing leaf miners, or other casebearers, and bagworms__~_-__ 7 
4, Blotch, serpentine, or tentiform mines in foliage of deciduous plants- 5) 
Miners im thesioliag exOb ser aC Cee ase ee pe ane 6 
5. Families Gracilariidae, Heliozelidae, and others. Some common 
species Jisted below: 
Lilae (tentiform mine) ___-Gracilaria syringella (F.), p. 492. 
Oak (blotch mine, larvae solitary) 
Cameraria hamadryadella (Clem.), p. 492. 
Oak (blotch mine, larvae gregarious) 
Cameraria cincinnatiella (Chamb.), p. 492. 
Tupelo (blotch mine) _Antispila nyssaefoliella Clem., p. 485. 
6. Families Gelechiidae, Olethreutidae, Yponomeutidae. Some 
common species are listed as follows: 
ATDORVItRe Sas aes aeee Argyresthia thutella (Pack.), p. 487. 
Argyresthia preyelia Wl1sm., p. 487. Recurvaria thujaella 
Kearf., p. 
JUMIDET Lae, he Ne eter eye eee Argyresthia freyella, p. 487. 
Recurvaria juniperella Kearf., p. 458. 
Hemlock_______Recurvaria apicitripunctella (Clem.), p. 457. 
Pitch pine and other hard pines 
Exoteleia pinifoliella (Chamb.), p. 458. 
Spruce: 
Head, shields, and true legs blackish; body dirty white 
to reddish; length *4¢ inch 
Epinotia nanana (Tr.), p. 471. 
Head and cervical shield light brown; body reddish to 
light cinnamon brown; length about 545 inch 
Recurvaria piceaella Wearf., p. 457. 
Head yellowish brown; shields pale greenish; body 
greenish brown; length about % inch 
Taniva albolineana (Kearf.), p. 475. 
