2 34 THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



The brown-tail moth, Euproctis chrysorrhcea. — The brown-tail moth 

 is another European pest, which was introduced into Massachusetts. It 

 first attracted attention by its ravages in 1897, and since then has spread 

 over a considerable part of New England and has extended into New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The wings of the female moth are white; 

 and the tip of the abdomen bears a tuft of yellowish-brown hairs, hence 

 the popular name of the insect. The female expands about 1^ inches. 

 The male is a little smaller than the female; and the brownish tuft at 

 the end of the abdomen is not so conspicuous as in the female. The larva 

 feeds on the foliage of fruit-trees and of almost all kinds of shade-trees ex- 

 cept conifers. The eggs are laid in an elongate mass on the underside of 

 a leaf, during July. The egg-mass is covered with brownish hairs from 

 the tip of the abdomen of the female. The eggs hatch in two or three 

 weeks. The larvae hatching from an egg-mass feed together on adjoining 

 leaves at the tip of a branch. These they web together with silk, making 

 a nest within which they pass the winter in a partially grown condition. 

 In early spring the larvae leave their winter quarters and feed on the 

 expanding foliage. They become full-grown in five or six weeks; and 

 then spin thin cocoons of white silk in curled leaves, crevices in bark of 

 trees, or under any convenient shelter. About three weeks later the 

 moths emerge. 



The full-grown larva of the brown-tail moth measures about i| inches 

 in length. It is nearly black in ground color, clothed with tufts of brown- 

 ish barbed hairs, and has a row of nearly white tufts on each side of the 

 body. In the center of the sixth and seventh abdominal segments are 

 small, red, retractile tubercles. The barbed hairs borne by the subdorsal 

 and lateral tubercles are venomous and produce an inflammation of the 

 skin of man much like that caused by poison ivy. As the cast skins of 

 the larvae are blown about by the wind, people are frequently badly 

 poisoned where this pest is common. 



Family Noctuid^; 

 The Noctuids or the Owlet-moths 



If only our fauna be considered, this is the largest of all of the families 

 of the Lepidoptera; more than 2500 species of noctuids are now know to 

 exist in America north of Mexico. The great majority of the moths that 

 fly into our houses at night, attracted by lights, are members of this 

 family. The nocturnal habits of these insects, and the fact that often 

 when they are in obscurity their eyes shine brightly suggested the name 

 of the typical genus, Noctua, from the Latin for owl, as well as the pop- 

 ular name owlet-moths, by which they are known. Similar popular 

 names have been given them in several other languages. 



Although there exist within the limits of the family great differences 

 in size, form, and coloring, most of the species are dull-colored moths of 

 medium size. 



In the typical noctuids, the body is large in proportion to the size of 

 the wings; the front wings are strong, somewhat narrow, and elongated, 

 the outer margin being shorter than the inner margin; and when at rest, 

 the wings are folded upon the abdomen, giving the insect a triangular 

 outline. The antennae are thread-like, fringed with hairs, or brush-like, 



