320 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



lowish gray, with a central dusky spot, behind which are two 

 faint, dusky bands. The head and thorax are rust-red, with an 

 elevated tawny tuft on each. The abdomen is pale brown, with 

 a row of tawny tufts on the back. The wings expand nearly one 

 inch and a half. 



In order to check the ravages of these insects they must be de- 

 stroyed while in the caterpillar state. As soon as our corn-fields 

 begin to show, by the withering of the leaves, the usual signs that 

 the enemy is at work in the stalks, the spindle-worms should be 

 sought for and killed ; for, if allowed to remain undisturbed until 

 they turn to moths, they will make their escape, and we shall not 

 be able to prevent them from laying their eggs for another brood 

 of these pestilent insects. 



The roots of the Columbine are attacked by another caterpillar 

 belonging to this family. It burrows into the bottom of the 

 stalk and devours the inside of the roots, which it injures so much 

 that the plant soon dies. One of these caterpillars, which was 

 found in July, in the roots of a fine double Columbine in my gar- 

 den, was of a whitish color, with a few black dots on each of the 

 rings, a brownish head, and the top of the first and of the last 

 rings blackish. It grew to the length of about one inch and a 

 quarter, turned to a chrysalis on the nineteenth of August, and 

 came out a moth on the twenty-fourth of September. The moth 

 closely resembles the Gortyna jlavago of Europe, but is suf- 

 ficiently distinct from it. It may be called Gortyna hucostigma, 

 the white-spot Gortyna. The fore-wings are tawny yellow, 

 sprinkled with purple-brown dots, and with two broad bands and 

 the outer hind margin purple-brown ; there is a distinct tawny 

 yellow spot on the tip, followed by a row of faint yellowish cres- 

 cents between the brown band and margin ; the ordinary spots are 

 yellow, margined with brown, and there is a third oval spot of a 

 white color near the round spot. The hind-wings are pale buff 

 or yellowish white, with a central spot, and a band behind it, of a 

 brownish color. The head is brown ; the thorax is tawny yellow, 

 with a brown tuft ; and the edges of the collar, and of the shoulder- 

 covers are brown. The wings expand rather more than one inch 

 and a half. I have what appear to be varieties of this moth, ex- 



