The Moths and Butterflies 



405 



FIG. 587. The raspberry dagger- 

 moth, Acronycta impressa. (After 

 Lugger; natural size.) 



shade-trees in town and country and another, less common, attacking orchards 

 and forest-trees. The caterpillars (Fig. 588) of Hemerocampa leucosligma, 

 the white-marked tussock-moth, which is the shade-tree species, are about 

 ij inches long, very hairy, bright yellow with a blackish stripe along the back 

 and one along each side, but chiefly conspicuous by a series of four cream- 

 colored dense tufts of vertical hairs on the back, three long black hair pen- 

 cils, two on the front part and one on the 

 hind part of the body, and by the coral-red 

 head and similarly colored two small pro- 

 tuberances on the sixth and seventh abdom- 

 inal segment which are scent-organs used 

 to repel enemies. When full-grown these 

 caterpillars pull the hairs from their body 

 and mixing them with some silk make a 

 grayish cocoon on the tree-trunks. The fe- 

 male moth is wingless, light gray in color, 

 and unusually long-legged for a moth; when issued she simply crawls out of the 

 cocoon and lays her 300 to 500 eggs covered by a frothy-looking but firm sub- 

 stance in a grayish mass on the outside of it. The males are ashy gray and 

 have broad short wings, expanding i J inches, the fore wings with darker wavy 

 transverse bands, a small black spot near the tip, an oblique blackish stripe 

 beyond it, and a minute white crescent near the outer hinder angle. The 



antennae are feathery, and the 

 fore legs tufted with hairs. The 

 best remedy for these pests is 

 to gather the egg-masses in the 

 winter and put them into a box 

 with its top covered by mosquito- 

 netting. In the spring the larvae 

 and the egg parasites which are 

 numerous will hatch; the minute parasites will escape through the netting 

 to go on with their good work, while the moths will be retained in the box 

 and may be killed. 



The orchard and fruit-tree species, Parorgyia parallela, the parallel- 

 lined tussock-moth, is winged in both sexes, the moths being dark gray with 

 darker-colored wavy lines and spots. The caterpillars are gray with lon- 

 gitudinal black stripes; short black tussocks are found on the back of seg- 

 ments 4 to 7, a pair of long black pencils is at each end of the body, and on 

 the back of each of segments 9 and 10 is a small pale-yellow scent-cup. 

 The head is shining black. It feeds especially on plum-, crabapple-, and 

 oak-trees. 



The most notorious member of theNoctuidae is the gypsy-moth, Porthetria 



FIG. 588. Larva of the tussock-moth, Hemero- 

 campa leucos'igma. (After Felt, natural size.) 



