37 6 



The Moths and Butterflies 



apple, the blotch-mines of the oaks and other forest trees. Even pine- 

 needles are mined by certain species, the pine leaf-miner, Gelechia pini- 

 joliella, being abundant in the leaves of pitch-pine. 



Interesting little Tineids are the apple and oak bucculatrix-moths, whose 

 larvae feed on the leaves and when ready to pupate crawl to a stem or branch 



FIG. 532. FIG. 533. 



FIG. 532. The apple-leaf bucculatrix, Bucculatrix pomifoliella, pupal cocoons on twig, 

 one pupal cocoon removed, and moth. (After Riley; cocoons natural size; 

 size of moth indicated by line.) 



FIG. 533. Venation of a Pyralid moth, Pyralis farinalis. cs, costal vein; sc, subcostal 

 vein; r, radial vein; m, medial vein; c, cubital vein; a, anal veins. Note the hair- 

 like projection, called frenulum, at the base of the anterior margin of the hind wing. 

 This fits into a little " frenulum pocket " on the fore wing. (After Comstock; 

 enlarged.) 



and there make long, slender, finely woven little white cocoons, conspicuously 

 ribbed or fluted lengthwise, in which they pupate (Figs. 531 and 532). The 

 pupae hibernate, the tiny moth issuing the following spring and laying its 

 eggs on the leaves. The larvae are miners at first, but after the first moulting 

 feed on the outer surface of the leaves under thin flat silken webs. 



The Pyralidina include half a dozen families, some of the moths 

 hardly properly called microlepidoptera, for they reach a wing expanse of 

 i inches. But most of the species are small and but few are at all 

 familiar to collectors. The larva? of numerous species are injurious to 

 fruits, stored grain, etc., and these species have a particular interest for 

 economic entomologists. To collectors and nature students the most attrac- 

 tive Pyralids will be the beautiful plume-moths, or feather-wings, small 

 moths with the wings split or fissured longitudinally for one-half or more the 

 length of the wing. The fore wings are usually thus divided into two parts 

 and the hind wings into three (Fig. 534), but on some there are more divisions. 

 All the feather-wings excepting one species belong to the family Pteropho- 



