Home › Volumes › Moths › Pyralidae Family
Walnut Case-bearer
This little moth lives in its larval stage upon the leaves of the hickory and walnut. It has the habit of drawing together two of the opposite leaves attached to the long petiole, and between them it builds a case, which is quite straight and is composed of silk, attached to which is excrementitious matter, which is neatly and closely applied to the whole. In this case the larva lives until the cooler airs of autumn warn it to leave the petiole of the compound leaf, which will fall presently, and it then anchors its little case to the twig near by, and in a half-grown state prepares for the cold winds and icy temperature of winter. When again spring sends the sap up the branches, and the leaves begin to unfold, it cuts the bands of silk which held the case in place, and completing its development upon freshly grown and sapid food, it is transformed into a pupa, from which the moth presently emerges. The moth closely resembles the next species, but the student, by the study of its habits and of the case, which is always straight, and not crooked, as is that of the following species, may at once discriminate it.