12 
selected especially when the insects are abundant. To the natural 
eye they appear like little pale yellowish green grains, being so small 
that they pass unnoticed unless the attention is turned especially to¬ 
wards them. If examined by a magnifying glass they will be found 
to be conical, or shaped like the old fashioned sugar loaf, the larger 
end or base which is flat, being glued to the leaf; the apex is also 
cut squarely off. Their surface is glossy and beautifully fretted with 
alternating minute ribs and furrows; the ribs, of which there are usually 
about twelve, run lengthwise, with intervening furrows; it is also 
striated transversely with very fine impressed lines regularly placed. 
The length is rather less than one-twentieth of an inch, the thickness 
about one-fourth the length. 
The time required for the eggs to hatch varies somewhat, but is 
usually about six or seven days. The little pale yellow glossy caterpil¬ 
lar, which is less than one-tenth of an inch long when it first escapes 
through the opening it has gnawed in the shell, not satisfied with re¬ 
lease from its prison, as the first act of its free life devours the shell. 
This habit appears to haA r e been first noticed by Harold and is men¬ 
tioned by Westwood, Curtis, Fitch and others. Dr Fitch describes 
this operation fully as observed by him as follows: 
“The first act of the worm is to eat the shell of the egg from 
which it has been hatched. It first gnaws an opening on one side 
from the top nearly to the base, and then very slowly nibbles the 
sides of this opening, and the base of the shell, until it is so cleanly 
consumed that no indications of the spot where it was placed remain. 
In the instance observed, the worm was occupied five hours in eating 
its shell. When this is accomplished it remains at rest for a few 
hours.” 
His further observations in reference to the habits of the young 
caterpillar are so clearly stated and so interesting that I make no 
apology tor introducing them here. 
“Its second act is to weave a mat or carpet to give it a more se- 
- cure foothold upon the leaf. Applying its mouth to the surface of 
the leaf and moving it from side to side, it spins therefrom a thread 
of silk of most extreme fineness, which it fastens to the surface, 
crossing it in every direction, until it forms a thin film, which to the 
eye appears like a small glossy spot very visible in a particular re¬ 
flection of the light, looking as though the leaf had been slightly 
touched with varnish. If nothing occurs to drive it therefrom, this 
spot becomes its residence for a few days. And wherever it takes 
up its abode subsequently, it constructs a similar mat, into the threads 
of which it can catch the minute hooks of its feet, to render its 
standing more secure than it is upon the naked surface of the leaves. 
“It next begins to feed upon the leaf, some six or twelve hours after 
it has finished eating the egg shell. At some point slightly outside 
of the edge of the mat On which it is standing, it eats a round hole, 
the size of a small pin head, into which it gradually sinks its head 
deeper and deeper, until it passes through the parenchyma of the leaf 
to the SKin of its upper surface. As yet it is so small that the eye 
only perceives it to be a minute, cylindrical, pale, yellow worm, usually 
lying straight and motionless on the leaf. But as it feeds on the 
green pulp of the leaf, its body acquires a green color and slowly in¬ 
creases in size, growing about one-thirtieth of an inch daily. 
