Laetilia coccidivora Comstock larvae feed on various scale in- 
sects. According to some reports, it has aided materially in the 
control of outbreaks of the pine tortoise scale. It has been re- 
corded from Pennsylvania and Ohio to Florida and Texas. 
FAMILY OLETHREUTIDAE 
OLETHREUTID MOTHS 
This family contains a large number of economically important 
species of forest insects. Several are particularly important as 
pests in nurseries and plantations. The larvae differ widely in 
their feeding habits. Some feed by boring into the buds, twigs, 
stems, roots, seed, or fruit of their hosts; others feed on the 
foliage as leaf miners, from within folded leaves, or on the ex- 
posed surface. MacKay (487, 488) described the known larvae of 
North American species. 
Episimus argutanus (Clem.) is widely distributed and feeds as 
a leaf roller on sumac, poison ivy, witch hazel, and various other 
shrubs. The adult has a wing expanse of about 12 mm. and is 
dull reddish or grayish-brown, mottled with darker colors. Each 
larva lives in a rolled leaf or between two leaves fastened together 
with silk. There are two or more generations per year. 
The spruce needle miner, Taniva albolineana (Kft.), occurs from 
coast to coast in southern Canada and from Maine to North Caro- 
lina, Colorado, and Idaho in the United States. Its hosts are 
white, Norway, Engelmann, Colorado, and black spruce. The 
adult is dark brown and has a wingspread of about 12 mm. The 
forewings have three irregular, transverse, broken, grayish-white 
bands. ; 
Adults are present from mid-May to mid-June. Eggs are de- 
posited so that they overlap in a single row on the undersides of 
needles in groups of two to twelve eggs each. Young larvae are 
gregarious and bore into the bases of old needles, hollowing them 
out. Older larvae feed singly. Shortly after beginning to feed the 
larvae construct nests composed of dead needles and frass which 
are held together by fine silk strands. As the larvae develop, their 
nests are continually enlarged. Winter is spent in the larval 
stage in the nest. Feeding is resumed on adjacent needles in the 
spring. Pupation takes place in silken cocoons within the nest 
during late spring or early summer. 
The spruce needle miner is most important as a pest of orna- 
mental spruce, but it also occasionally causes serious defoliation 
in forest stands. The presence of webs on ornamentals reduces 
their esthetic value. This can be largely prevented by handpick- 
ing or washing the webs from the trees before the buds break 
in the spring. Webs washed to the ground should be picked up 
and burned. 
Evora hemidesma (Zell.) feeds as a leaf roller on alder, poplar, 
and willow in southern Canada, and in the Eastern States from 
Maine to Virginia and Kentucky. The adult is reddish-brown 
with a darker median band on the forewing and has a wingspread 
of 12 to 16 mm. Full-grown larvae are dark green to almost 
black, sparsely hairy, with light-colored tubercles and light-brown 
360 
