LEPIDOPTERA. 
251 
The young larva is remarkable in resembling more the larva 
of a beetle than the ordinary type of lepidopterous larvae. 
It is nearly flat; the first thoracic segment is much larger than 
any of the others; the body tapers towards the hind end; 
and there are only the faintest rudiments of legs discernible. 
The larvae molt seven times. At the seventh molt the form 
of the body undergoes a striking change. It now becomes 
cylindrical in form, there is a great change in the shape of 
the mouth-parts, and the fourteen feet are well developed. 
This change in form during the life of the larva is charac¬ 
teristic of a large group of Tineids of which this species may 
be taken as a type. The full-grown cylindrical larva meas¬ 
ures about one-fifth inch in length. It spins a cocoon, which 
is simply a delicate, semi-transparent, circular sheet of white 
silk, stretched over a part of the floor of the mine. The 
pupa is dark brown in color, and bears a toothed crest upon 
its head, which enables it doubtless to pierce or saw its way 
out from the cocoon. The moth is a delicate little creature, 
whose wings expand a little more than one-fourth inch. The 
fore wings are white, with three, broad, irregular, bronze 
bands across each, and each band is bordered with black on 
the inner side. The hind wings are silvery. 
As this insect passes the winter as a larva within the dry 
leaves, the best way to check its ravages when it becomes a 
pest is to rake up and burn such leaves. 
The Palmetto-leaf Miner, Laverna sabalella (La-ver'na 
sab-a-lel'la).—This species occurs only in the South where 
the saw-palmetto grows. But it is of general interest as 
illustrating a peculiar type of larval habit. The larvae can 
hardly be said to be leaf-miners; for they feed upon the 
upper surface of the leaf, destroying the skin as well as the 
fleshy part of the leaf. They are social, working together in 
small companies, and make a nest consisting of a delicate 
sheet of silk covering that part of the leaf upon which they 
are feeding; this sheet is covered with what appears like 
sawdust, but which is really a mass of the droppings of the 
