214 Forty-second Report on the State Museum. [72 J 



is ever seen in examples of P. rosaceana. A number of the pupa- 

 cases of both species are contained in the State collection awaiting 

 study which will undoubtedly show marked differences in them. 



Food-habits. 



With me the insect has shown a decided preference for some 

 clumps of one of the commoner roses, not very double, which grow in 

 clusters on the same stem, and entirely avoiding some of the choicer 

 kinds. This same preference has been observed and mentioned to 

 me by others. The explanation may, perhaps, be that this particular 

 rose is apparently not very far removed from the wild rose, Rosa 

 blanda, which, according to Mr. Coquillett, it infests, and from which 

 he has bred it. 



This is the first time that the insect has been reported in green- 

 houses. 



Life-history and Habits. 

 The parent moth, shown in its natural size in Fig. 20, comes from 

 its pupa about the middle of April in ordinary seasons, in the 

 State of New York, for the deposit of its eggs. They are laid at 

 night, and presumably on the terminal leaves of rose bushes, just 

 as they are pushing out from the buds. The eggi 

 have not been observed, nor the moth in its oviposition, 

 at this season of the year. The caterpillar soon hatches, 

 and at once commences to bind together the margins 

 Fia.20.-Mothof and gurfaceg of the folded leaf> J have found it thus 

 the rose-leaf tyer. ,,».., • • i .i 



Penthina nimba- located on the last day of April, measuring one-eigntn 



tana. f an i nc h i n length. With its increasing size, the 



single leaf, partly eaten and opened out in its rapid growth, is aban- 

 doned by the caterpillar, which then selects another habitation, and a 

 more commodious one, between the surfaces of two leaves fastened 

 together. This, in turn, at a more advanced stage of growth, is 

 deserted for still more ample quarters among several of the terminal 

 leaves of a tip. Within the shelter thus provided for itself, it feeds 

 upon its immediate surroundings and is never seen abroad. Its 

 growth is rapid, and at its successive moltings the papillae and the 

 hairs proceeding from them become more conspicuous. Immediately 

 after its molting, and for a while thereafter, its head and collar are 

 green, assuming slowly their normal black and shining color. 



By the last week of May the larvae have matured, ceased feeding, 

 and, it would seem, have dropped to the ground, to undergo their 

 transformations among the dead leaves, as I have not been able to 

 find their pupae among the folded or fastened leaves of the bush. 

 When reared in confinement they have transformed within a folded 



