LEPIDOPTERA 



647 



Fig- 794- — Pantographa 

 limata. 



lives a bright green larva, with the head and thoracic shield black. When 



full grown the larva leaves this nest and makes a smaller and more 



simple nest, which is merely a fold of one 



edge of the leaf, or sometimes an incision is 



made in the leaf extending around about 



two-thirds of a circle and the free part bent 



over and fastened; in each case the nest is 



lined with silk, thus forming a delicate co- 

 coon. Here the larv^ pass the winter in 



fallen leaves. At Ithaca, N. Y., Professor 



Slingerland found that the larvas did not 



pupate till the following July, and that 



adults emerged in August. The adult moth expands about 33 mm.; 



it is straw-colored with many elaborate markings of olive with a 



purplish iridescence (Fig. 794). 



The melon-worm, Diaphdnia hyalindta. — This beautiful moth (Fig. 



795) is often a serious pest in our Southern States, where the larva is 



very destructive to melons and other allied plants. The young larvas 



feed on the foliage; the older ones mine into the stems and fruit. 



The insect passes the 

 winter as a pupa in loose 

 silken cocoons in dead 

 leaves or under rubbish. 

 The moth is a superb 

 creature, with glistening 

 white wings bordered 

 with black, and with a 

 spreading brush of long 

 scales at the end of the 

 abdomen. This species 

 appears to be injurious 

 only in the Gulf States, 

 but the moths have been 

 taken as far north as 

 Canada. 



The most practicable 

 method of protecting 

 cantaloupes and cucum- 

 bers from this pest is by 

 planting summer squash- 

 es among them as a trap 

 crop at intervals of about 

 two weeks so as to fiu-- 

 nish an abundance of 

 buds and blossoms dur- 

 ing July and August. 

 The earlier squash vines 



should be removed and destroyed before many worms have reached 



maturity on them; and after the crop is harvested the vines and 



waste fruits should be gathered and destroyed. 



Fig. 795. — Diaphania hyalinata: larvae, cocoon, 

 and adults. (From the Author's Report for 

 1879.) 



