63 



I am informed by Prof. C. H. Fernald, the well known authority 

 on microlepidoptera, that this species does not occur in Maine, 

 and that he does not remember having seen it in any collection 

 made in the East. It is quite generally distributed throughout 

 Illinois, however, and is reported from some of the adjacent states. 



LIFE HISTOKY 



Most of the facts concerning the life history of the apple leaf 

 skeletonizer are given in the above extracts; but the note slips of 

 the State Entomologist's office prove one new point of importance 

 which should here be given; viz., that this species, contrary to 

 the opinion heretofore prevailing, is double-brooded, at least in the 

 latitude of Central Illinois, and probably farther north. 



A lot of larvse obtained at Normal July 7, 1886, were transferred 

 to breeding cages at Champaign and fed upon apple leaves. On 

 the 12th July many had changed to pupse and on the 25th of 

 the same month the moths began to emerge. The breeding notes 

 of the office for the years 1883 and 1884 show that moths of the 

 second brood were similarly bred during each of those seasons 

 from larvae obtained in early summer; and on August 6, 1884, 

 the adult moths were collected at Normal on the leaves of apple- 

 trees in the nursery. 



Briejfly recapitulated, then, the life history of the species is as 

 follows: The small purplish gray moths, expanding scarcely half 

 an inch, lay their eggs, probably, on the leaves or tender twigs of 

 the apple late in spring or early in summer, the larvae soon hatching 

 and beginning to eat the parenchyma of the leaves, and, as they grow 

 older, spinning a slight protective silken web on the upper surface of 

 the leaf, beneath which they continue their destructive work. When 

 full grown they vary from an olive or pale green color to brown; 

 are about half an inch long; and have four black shining tubercles 

 on the back just behind the head. About midsummer these larvae 

 pupate in slight cocoons formed usually on the leaf, and about 

 two week later the moths emerge. Eggs are laid by these for the 

 second brood of larvae, which form cocoons before winter sets in 

 and hibernate as pupae, the moths from them emerging the follow- 

 ing spring. But this species is very irregular in its development, 

 it being easy to find larvae of nearly all ages almost any time 

 during the season. The second brood is usually much more nu- 

 merous than the first, and consequently the injury is most notice- 

 able in September and October. I think it not impossible that in 

 certain instances even three broods may be developed. 



It is probable that the larvae of this insect sometimes occur upon 

 other trees than the apple, as specimens were received September 

 22, 1884, from Sangamon county, Illinois, with the statement that 

 they were injuring the leaves of plums and quinces. 



