52 



LITERATURE. 



This insect was first briefly described as Liihocolletis gemina- 

 iella by Dr. A. S. Packard (''Guide to the Study of Insects," pp. 

 353, 354; pi. 8, figs. 15 — 15c). The larva is said to have been 

 abundant on the leaves of apple and pear in the vicinity of Salem 

 during the summer of 1869. Dr. Packard writes: "The moth is 

 of a dark slate-gray, without any prominent markings, with ochreous 

 hairs on the top of t]ie head. There is a black round spot on the 

 middle of the inner edge of the wing. On the outer edge is an 

 eye-like spot, pupilled with black like the 'eye' in a peacock's tail. 

 The antenn?e are dark, ringed with a pale slate color. It expands 

 .30 of an inch. The larva is a pale livid reddish with a black 

 head and cervical shield, and .14 of an inch in length. It was 

 first discovered about the middle of August, hanging from a branch 

 suspended by a thread. From this time it became abundant, until 

 the leaves began to fall in the first week of October; nearly 

 every leaf on some of the pear- and apple-trees having a mine. 



* * Usually the larva draws two leaves together or folds ' 



one up, and as it eats its way along the surface of the leaf^ leaves 

 its excrement filling up the space behind, thus making blotches 

 and otherwise disfiguring the leaves. In this mine it transforms > 

 into a long slender pupa, which may be found surrounded with T 

 the castings of the larva. The moths first appeared August 19, 

 and flew in- doors at night attracted by the light." 



This account does not exactly agree with the usual habits of '^^ 

 the species, as observed by later writers, though in exceptional in- .| 

 stances the larvae may behave as here recorded. In the great ma- ^ 

 jority of cases, as noted elsewhere in this paper, the larvae do not 

 pupate in their old mines, but make new ones by turning down 

 the edges of the leaves. 



The species is next mentioned by Mr. V. T. Chambers, in the 

 "Canadian Entomologist" for November, 1871 (Vol. III., p. 183), 

 where, in writing of the described species of the genus Litho- 

 colletis, he says: "Z/. geminatella, Packard, is said to be dark 

 slate-gray, without prominent markings, but with a round black 

 spot on the middle of the dorsal margin, (like a Bucculatrix ? ) j_ 

 and an apical ocellus. The larva is pale livid reddish, (unlike 

 any known Lithocolletis larva, but not unlike some Gracillariae). 

 It feeds on leaves of apple and pear trees, hetween two leaves, or 

 in a fold of a leaf (This is very unlike a Lithocolletis.") 



In the "Canadian Entomologist" for March 1873 (Vol. V., p. 50),. 

 the insect is re-described as new by Mr. Chambers, (under the 

 name of Ornix prunivorella), who gives Kentucky as its habitat ^/ 

 Of its life history he writes: "The larva mines the leaves of }A 

 apple-trees (Mains), and wild cherry-trees {Prunus seroiina)^ 

 making a large tentiform mine on the under surface, which can only 

 be distinguished from that of Lithocolletis crataigella, Clem., in the 

 same leaves, by its larger size. It is at first a short, crooked mine, 

 which ends in the large tentiform mine. It leaves the mine to 



