2l8 



THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



Family MEGALOPYGID^E (Me-gal-o-pyg'i-dae). 

 7 he Flannel-wot /is. 



Sometimes there is attracted to our evening lamp a 

 whitish moth, whose wings, being densely clothed with long 

 curly hairs, resemble bits of flannel; this is the Crinkled 



Flannel-moth, Megalopyge cris- 

 pata (Me-gal-o-py'ge cris-pa ta). 

 It is cream-colored, with the fore 

 wings marked with wavy lines of 

 crinkled black and brownish hairs. 

 The male is represented by Fig- 

 ure 246 ; the female is larger, 

 expanding one and three fifths 



FIG. 246. Megaiopyge 



inches. In the female the antennae are very narrowly pecti- 

 nate. The larva is said to feed on oak, elm, apple, and rasp- 

 berry. 



In the Southern States there occur three other species 

 of this family. These 

 moths are easily distin- 

 guished by the structure 

 of their wings (Fig. 247). 

 There are three anal 

 veins in both fore and 

 hind wings ; bu-t in the 

 fore wings the second 

 and third anal veins (veins 

 IX and XI) are partially 

 grown together. The 

 basal part of vein V is 

 more or less distinctly 

 preserved, and divides 

 the discal cell into two 

 nearly equal parts. Veins 

 II and III of the hind 

 wings are grown to- 

 gether nearly to the end of the discal cell. 



VII, 



XI 



VII; 



IX VIII 

 FIG. 247. Wings of Megalopyge crispata. 



