LEPIDOPTERA 



217 



Zimmermann's pine-pest, Pinipestis zimmermanni, is a common 

 species, the larva of which is a borer. It infests the trunks of pine, 

 causing large masses of gum to exude. The moths appear in mid-sum- 

 mer. 



The coccid-eating pyralid, LcBtUia coccidivora, differs from the other 

 members of this family in being predacious. It feeds on the eggs and 

 young of various scale-insects 

 (Pulvinaria, Dactylopius, and 

 Lecanium). Figure 374 

 represents the different stages 

 of this insect enlarged, and 

 the moths natural size resting 

 on egg-sacs of Pulvinaria. 

 Like other members of this 

 family the larva spins a silken 

 tube, within which it lives. 

 On a thickly-infested branch 

 these tubes may be found 

 extending from the remains 

 of one coccid to another. 



To this subfamily belong 

 also the gooseberry fruit 

 worm, Zophodia grossuldrics, 

 which feeds within the fruit 

 of the gooseberry and cur- 

 rant, and the cranberry fruit 

 worm, Mineola vaccinii, 

 which bores into cranberry 

 fruit. 



Family Pterophorid^ 



The Plume-moths 



The plume-moths are so 

 called on account of the re- 

 markable form of the wings 

 in most species; the wings 

 being split by longitudinal fis- 

 sures into more or less plume-like divisions. In most species each fore 

 wing is separated into two parts, by a fissure extending about one-half 

 the length of the wing; while each hind wing is divided 

 into three parts by fissures extending farther towards the 

 base of the wing. 



One of our most common species is the gartered 

 plume, Oxyptilus periscelidactylus. This is a small moth, 

 expanding about f of an inch. It is of a yellowish-brown 

 color marked with dull whitish streaks and spots (Fig. 

 375). The larvae hatch early in the spring and feed upon the 

 newly-expanded leaves of the grape. They fasten together several of them, 

 usually those at the end of a shoot, with fine white silk; between the 

 leaves thus folded the caterpillars live either singly or two or three 



Fig. 374. — Lcetilia coccidivora: a, egg; b, larva; c, pypa; d, adult; 

 e, e, moths natural size, resting on egg sacs of Pulvinaria. 



Fig. 375. — Oxy- 

 ptilus periscelidacty- 

 lus. 



