AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 387 
Moths—continued. 
lepidoptera (meaning large scale-winged insects), seldom 
under lin. across the outspread wings, and often much 
larger; and the Microlepidoptera (or small scale-winged 
insects), seldom exceeding lin. across the wings (except 
in Pyralidina), and often much smaller. In both sec- 
tions there are numerous species that injure cultivated 
plants. Each section includes several tribes, which are 
generally more or less characterised by the habits of 
the larvæ, as well as by peculiarities in the structure of 
the perfect insects. The following are the more important 
tribes and families : 
1. Sphingina, or the Hawk Moth tribe, including the 
true Hawk Moths, the Humming Bird Hawk Moths (see 
Macroglossa stellatarum), and the Clear-wing Moths. 
Fig. 594. HuMMING BIRD Hawk Mora. 
They all have long, narrow, front wings (see Fig. 594), which 
they move rapidly; and fly in a peculiar fashion. They have 
a long proboscis, or trunk; and their antenne are thick in 
the middle, and taper to both ends. The larva of the true 
Hawk Moths are seldom very hurtful to garden plants, 
Fic. 595, DEATH’S HEAD MOTH. 
though that of the Death's Head Moth (Fig. 595) feeds 
on Potato, on Jasmine, and on Lycium barbarum; that 
of the Privet Hawk Moth on Privet, and those of the 
genus Smerinthus on Willows, Poplars, Apple, Lime, 
Ko. They often have a straight or curved horn, or tail, 
at the end of the body. The Clear-wing Moths, as larvæ, 
ive in burrows, in the roots and stems of many plants, 
and often do considerable damage—e.g., Sesia tipuliformis 
in Currant branches, and S. apiformis (see Fig. 596) in 
Poplars. = 
2. The tribe Bombycina includes a considerable number 
of Moths, usually of large size, with heavy bodies. 
ir wings are relatively weak, so that they—at least, 
the females—are not very active on the wing, and the 
females of some kinds are practically wingless. They 
usually have the proboscis small, and hardly fit for 
Moths—continued. 
sucking up food. The males often have the antenns 
feathered largely on both sides; the antenne of the 
females, on the other hand, are usually slender. They 
mostly fly by day, and are often brightly coloured. The 
larve are very frequently hairy and brightly coloured. 
Fic. 596. CLEAR-wiInG MOTH. 
Many of them are very hurtful to garden produce, 
The Silkworms (i.e. larvæ that produce silk for their 
cocoons in such quantity as to be of commercial import- 
ance) belong to this tribe, and chiefly to the genera 
Bombyx and Saturnia. Bombyx mori is the common 
Silkworm Moth. Among the many species of this tribe 
that might be noted, we shall here mention only a few, 
concerning which fuller information will be found under 
the respective names. They are: Brown-tail, Gold-tail, 
and Gipsy Moths (Liparis, see Figs. 597 and 598); Lackey 
Moth (Bombyz neustria, see Fig. 599), Tiger Moths (Arctia 
caja and A. villica, see Fig. 600), and Vapourer Moth 
» (Orgyia antiqua, see Fig. 601). 
Nearly related to the true Bomby- 
cina, and often included among them, 
are the Ghost Swifts (Hepialide), of 
which the commonest species (Hepialus 
humuli) feeds, in the larval state, in 
the roots of many plants, and is at 
times very hurtful to the Hop. The 
larve are smooth, and dull ochreous 
in colour. The moths have very short, 
slender antennw. Closely allied to the 
Hepialide are the Zenzeridw, repre- 
sented by the Goat Moth (Cossus 
ligniperda) and the Leopard Moth 
(Zenzera sculi); the larve of both 
feed in the wood of trees. The 
Notodontide, or Pseudo-bombyces, are 
frequently separated off as a family 
distinct from the true Bombyces, 
frem which, however, they differ in no very 
important respect. The larve of this family are 
frequently of very strange forms, with humps, or 
warts, or long filaments at the tip of the body, 
asin the Puss Moth. They mostly live on trees, 
and the only species among them that is common 
enough to be injurious to any extent is the Buff- 
tip Moth (Pygœra bucephala), which feeds on almost any 
of our native, as well as on many cultivated, trees. 
Fic. 597. GIPSY MOTH (MALE) 
3. The next great tribe is Noctuina, or Night Motha, 
so called because of their generally flying by night. In 
this tribe the antennw are almost always slender; the 
