The Washington herald., 1921-03-04
Scientific
! Notes and
! Comment
Calendar of Meetings;
. Activities of Societies
! In Washington
APARTMENT JEWELLERS
IN APPLE ORCHARD.

Life in a one-room apartment is
a modern idea with us, but with
some other creatures 1t has been in
vogue since before the first human
habitation was erected" declared
r. Z. Snodgrass, of the Bureau of
Entomology, at the meeting of the
chronological Society held at the
New National Museum last night.
Out in the apple orchard a little
caterpillar lives in the narrow space
between the upper and lower sur
face of the leaves, where it con-
structs flat mines that show to the
eye as spots of dead tissue about
half an inch in length. These apart
ments furnish both room and board,
for the tenant finds its meals con-
tinuously provided all around the
edges of it's room where it lives
and eats till it reaches maturity,
explained Snodgrass.
A Caterpillar House.
But a leaf habitation is no fit
place for winter" he continued.
when fall arrives the caterpillar
cuts out little oval disc from both
floor and roof of it's apartment, just
large enough to contain its own
body, and sews the edges together,
leaving the ends open. Then ii sew
ers the last link with it's old home,
protrudes its fore parts and crawls
of with its little house on its back,
or drops with it at the end of a
thread to explore the tree for a
suitable site for winter quarters.
Selecting finally a place on a twig
or branch il sews one end Of its
case securely to the bark, spins a
snug inner chamber of silk, re-
verses its position, sheds its sum-
mer working clothes, and settles
down for a long winter rest. In
spring it ehanges to a chrysalis that
becomes tiny, feathery moth. shin
ing in silver and gold. This crea-
ture is the resplendent shield
bearer, so called because of the
gaudy colors of the moth and the
shield-like case of the caterpillar"
Another inhabitant of apple
leaves. Bucculatrix or the ribbed
COCOON maker, a little caterpillar,
was described.
Insect Palisade. .
It's story as told by Mr.. Snodgrass:
when full grown Bucculatrix
makes a cocoon for protection dur
ing it's chrysalis stage. The cater
pillars that mature in the fall select
a site somewhere on the under side
Of twig where each first lays down
an oval silk carpet about the length
OF its own body. Next, following
some military instict of its race, the
caterpillar 'erects about it's carpet
a stockade of delicate thread-like
palisades.
FINALLY comes the serious work
of building the cocoon. Bucculatrix
is an indiyidualist and has no imi-
tators as an architect. Spinning
from one end of the carpet the
caterpillar rapidly constructs a spin
dle-shaped structure. The weaver
works toward herself and nearly
shuts herself out of her own house.
But when two-thirds done she
ceases spinning, crawls in, reverses
and comes out in the opposite direc-
tion. The other end of the cocoon
Is constructed as the caterpillar
backs into the part already finished.
SO when the whole Ia completed she
is shut within. Then she puts in a
thick lining of silk and the job is
DONE"
Cocoon Is Beautiful.
The newly finished cocoon is one
of the most beautiful things in in
sect architecture, declared Mr.. Snod-
grass. But by spring 1t is shabby
and ,discolored. the palisades broken
and beaten down by wind and rain.
Yet the occupant lives through all
of the winter weather. and in spring
breaks through the walls of its
house, and becomes a trim little
moth which lays the eggs for. the
spring caterpillars.
Most of these orchard ,dwellers
can be studied without resentment
since the damage they do is usually