An Orthopterous leaf-roller

46 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

marked

that it

was

_impossible ^to

buy

^a

copy

^{of it; he}

knew

of only

two

_copies in this country, one in

New York and

the other in

Washington. Mr. Ash mead

said he

had

experienced great difficulty ⁱⁿ getting access^to the

works

on

South American

in sects

by

Spanish ^{authors in}

South

America.

Mr.

Caudell read the following paper^:

AN ORTHOPTEROUS LEAF-ROLLER.

By A. N. CAUDEI.L.

Early ⁱⁿ July, 1900, while _collecting in the _vicinityof

Wash

ington,

D.

_C., I

found

a small

papaw

^{leaf neatly rolled}

^{by some}

insect.

Upon

opening ^{it I}

was

_surprised to see a very small apterous orthopteron leap actively out, losing ^itself immediately

among

^{the leaves}

^on

^the ground.

On

close search I found on the

same

_plantanotherexactly similarly^rolledleaf.

Upon

peer ing ^{into this} very cautiously ^I foundthat it contained a specimen like the one _just lost.

From

an examination of the

specimen

within the case I could only determine ^{that it}

was

a delicate, pale colored Locustid with very long slender antennae, apparently a very

young

specimen. This

was

_{preserved, but,} not being ^at thattime interested in Orthoptera, ¹

made

no _notes, nor did I

then

know

thatthe leaf

was

rolled

by

^{this insect.}

On May

22, 1902,

Mr. Busck handed me

a small _jar contain ing

some

bits ofwillow bark

and two

Locustid

nymphs. Upon

closely

examining

the material I

found

three eggs ^{in a crevice in} a piece ^of bark,

two

empty, obviously ^those

from which

the

nymphs ^had

^issued,

^and

^{one shriveled} up, evidently destroyed

by

fungus.

The _nymphs were

identified as those of

Campto-

notus carolinensis Gerst.

The

_piece of bark _containing these eggs

was

takenabout

two

feet above

ground from

a large ^tree.

Placing one ^{of these}

nymphs

ⁱⁿ spirits ^I enclosed the other in a glass tube with

some

willowleaves covered with_plant ^lice.

On

examing

^{this tube the}following day ^I found the insect

had

con structed foritself a pocket ⁱⁿ one of the _leaves,and then I recog nizedwithout doubt the

same

insect ^I had taken

two

years before on

papaw. The

_pocket

was made _by

_cutting the leaf through

on

each side to the midrib

and

_{at rightangles} to it

and

_{again one-}

third ofan inch further along the midrib, ^this time the incision being

formed

atan _anglewithit.

The

_flaps^thus

formed on

either side

were

then folded together

and

their edges fastened together with silk-like strands,

and

I have subsequently ^{seen cases} with

OF WASHINGTON. 47

one end completely ^closed

by

^{a solid}

mat

of thissilk.

The man

nerof constructing the pockets^{or rolls is not}uniform. In

some

cases the incisionsare

made

nearthe

apex

^{ofthe leafandthen}only the

two

basal cuts are

made,

^thetip of theleafbeing^foldedback, thus

making

^{the terminal cuts} unnecessary.

Sometimes

the pocket ^is

formed

_altogether

on

one side of the midrib.

Mr.

Busck

_luckily observed theformation of one of the pockets

and

thus describes the process^:

" When

_supplied with fresh leaves the insect at once

com menced making

^a

new

house, cutting withitsmandiblesincisions

from

the edge ^{of the} leaf; then, grasping ^{the thus}

movable

edges each with the three _legs

on

each side

and

_forcing

them

_together, ^it

spun what was

_apparently silk thread

from

the

mouth,

fastening the edges together.

The whole

performance did not take five minutesafter it

was

_begun.

The

insect accur ately

measured

the properplaces ^for the cuts

by

placing ^itself

on

the leaf and _realizing

how much

_space

was

needed. This being determined, ^the

work went

rapidly on."

Within

these pockets ^the

nymphs

live,

coming

^out mostly ^at night ^to feed on _plantlice,

which seem

to

form

their entire food supply during^theirearly^life. In confinement _theywill eatother insectsas

Mr. Busck

_reports a specimen ^as eating ^{at least} one

young

^leaf hopper. ^In

two

_{days one} I

had

under observation ate a dozen _{large rose} aphids, several willow lice

and

innumerable smallerlice. It increased in length

from

^fourto five millimeters in three days.

Leaving

^thecity^atthispoint

my

interestingcaptive

was

turned overto

Mr. Banks who

conscientiously fed

and

cared forit until the 3Oth^of

May, when

^heunfortunately ^{lost it}while attempting ^{to transferit}

from

one _jar to another.

From

notes

myde

_by

Mr. Banks

this insectseemsto be _princi pally ^a night prowler. ^{It feeds} mostly^at night though ^{itwill nt} times feed quite readily duringthe day.

The

_following notes are taken forthe most _part

from

those

made

_by

Mr. Banks

:

There

is apparently no ^{choice in the} kind of leaves used for

making

^{the rolls.}

On _May

26th it

formed

one in a honey-suckle

leaf.

The

exact

manner

of

forming

^the roll,

which was

on_only one side of the midrib,

was

not noted.

On May

27th, ^after dark,

when

_given

some

_aphids

from

honey-suckle and maple, ^itsfeed ing

was

observed

by

^the light of a lamp. ^{It seized} an _aphid,

bit _it, turned it about

by means

^{of the} palpi, and then proceeded to eat it

entirely up, skin

and

all.

Then

^it

walked

_nervously around, _palpi quivering, ^{till it}

came

close to another _aphid,

which

it seized

by

^theback, sucked ^{out the} juices

and

then ate the skin.

Seven

_{large aphids}

were

thus eaten in a short time.

On May

29th another pocket

was formed and

the insectappeared on thatdate to have

grown

considerably,

showing

indications of

48 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

having molted,though no^{castskin could}befound. Itisquitepos siblethattheinsect eatsthecastskinsoftheearliermoltsasis

done

inthe case of

some

other Locustidse,

Microcentrtim

forexample.

This _spring another attempt

was made

torearthis

species

from

the egg, but I

had

^to leavefor British

Columbia and

failure re sulted. It is to be_regretted that the life cycle^{of this} interesting insect could not have been completed, but, since so

much

is

known,

^{it is to be}

hoped

^{that the near}future will see the

com

pletion ^of the life

history. Later in life its food habits doubt lessly change, probably

becoming

essentiallyvegetarian.

Though

no adults

were

secured

from

theseexperiments^thereispractically no doubtofthe determination, the generic charactersbeingplainly indicated inthe

nymph ^and

^therebeing but ^thisone_species

known from

the United States.

Under

the

name Camptonotus scudderi

^{this insect is said}by- Prof. Uhler* to occur

on oak

trees about Baltimore in the larval state asearly ^asthe first of August, and ^{as adults}

from

the latter part ^of

September

^until

sometime

in October.

Mature

_specimens

were

taken

by Mr.

^{Barber on}

Plummer's

_Island,

Md.,

^on

September

10, 1902.

While

the

nymph

^{of this} species has been mentioned

by

^sev

eral writers, noreference to itsfeeding ^habits hasbeen published so far as I can learn. Riley, ⁱⁿ a popular account^{of the insect}

on

_{page 186,}

volume

II, of the Standard Natural History, says

it hides in a rolled leaf during ^the day with ^its long ^antennae

wrapped

several times around thebody. ^{It is} possible ^{that itis} only during ^the

younger

^{stages that it forms these rolls.}

The young nymphs

^are very ^active

and

run about _rapidly.

They

seldom

jump

except

when

_disturbed, though capable ^of leaping a considerable distance.

The _egg

and first stage

nymph

^{of this}species

may

^bedescribed

as follows:

Egg. Size, 1.25

mm.

_{wide by4.25}

mm.

_{long. Shape} round, obtusely pointed ^at eachend; the surface,when seen through ^{a lens, has a} regu larlybeadedappearance. Thecolorof theegg ^{afterthe insect}has issued

ispallidwith the extremities infuscated, but beforehatchingthey

may

^be

colored, probably greenish. The young ^{insect issues} through ^{a small} trapcut in oneend. This door ismade _bya longitudinal split on one

side, which at the lower end intersects at right angles^atransversefrac turewhichextends a fourth of the distancearound theegg ^at about one millimeter fromtheend.

ist stage nymph. Head _{long and typically} locustian. Eyes oblong, darkbrownincolor; palpi pale, whiteat the tips; apicalsegment ^{of the}

*Proc Ent. Soc. Philadelphia, n,p 549, 1864.

OF WASHINGTON. 49

maxillarypalpiwhite onthe_apical halfand brown on the basal _half, the whole_veryslightly longer than thepenultimate segment; antennae situ ated betweenthe eyesand belowthe median _line; thesegments beyond the first,which is twice as long ^as the second, subequal ⁱⁿ length and graduallygrowing^smalleratthetip wheretheantennais as fine as a fine hair,thewhole antenna brownish incolorandcovered sparsely with short microscopic^hairs. Theentire insectisofa verylight brown _below,al

mostwhite, growingdarker above, almost fuscous dorsallyon themeso- and metanota whichare both visible behind the

medium

sized quadrate prothorax. Thislatterisscarcely as wideas the head, truncate anteriorly and _broadly rounded posteriorly with weakly-developed ^{lateral lobes.}

The

abdomen, which ^isslightlypyriform.shows tendorsalsegments, ^the terminal one_scarcelyvisiblebetweenthebasesof the divergent^cerci.

The

legs are palebrownish,palerbeneath and with _pallidgeniculations.

The

tarsiare also pallid. Anal cerci flesh colored, scarcely^aslong^asthelast threeabdominal_segments.

Length of body, fromfrontof head tothe_tipof the abdomen,4

mm.

;

of antennae, 20

mm.

; hind femora, ²

mm.

Mr.

Caudell

was

asked

whether

he considered theorthopteron

a true silk-spinning insect,

and

he _replied that he thought ^the material used in fastening the ^roll

might

be simply ^{dried saliva.}

Mr. Banks

said he thought^the spinning ^material

might

properly be called silk. Dr.

Howard

_suggested that fresh specimens should be dissected to see

whether

there

were

true spinning^or gans. Prof.

Uhler

stated that hehad collected this insect near Baltimore

by

beating ^it

from

trees.

Mr.

_Kotinsky

showed

specimensof ^ascale-insect

(Lecantum hemisphericum

Targ.),

which were

found

on

a plant sent^{in to} the

Department

^ofAgriculture. Curiously

enough some

ofthem, during ^transit,

had

transferred

and

fastened themselves to the dryers ⁱⁿ

which

_{the plants}

were

_pressed and

had

there laid eggs.

Mr.

Caudell exhibited specimens ^{of a}

West

Indiancricket

{Anurogryllus antillarum

^{Saussure). This insect is}injurious to various crops ⁱⁿtheSouth,

where

it has been

known

for

many

years, although ^it has never been referred to in print nor listed asbelonging ^to ourfauna.

Mr.

Barber exhibited specimens ^{of the rare}

and

curious neuropteroid ^insect,

Merope

^tuber

Newman,

^collected the past

summer

at

Plummer's

_Island,

Maryland, and

presented the ^fol

lowing

^note: