190 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



fringed wings expanding only a fifth of an inch. Its fore 

 wings are of a light slate gray color on their inner half, and 

 be3'ond bright orange, enclosing two white bands, one situ- 

 ated on the front edge, and the other arising from the inner 

 edge, both nearly meeting in the middle of the wing, and 

 edged externally with black. There is a very conspicuous 

 square black spot near the fringe, in which is a long pencil 

 of black hairs. Such startling contrasts of yellow and 

 black are seldom worn by these diminutive moths, but na- 

 ture never outrages our notions of good taste, and these 

 colors are blended in an harmonious and attractive way. It 

 is doubtful whether these little sac bearers ever do any 

 mischief to the trees, and they are more interesting than 

 injurious. The moth, caterpillar and case are figured on the 

 frontispiece of the "Guide to the Study of Insects." 



The Apple Aplds (Fig. 141, natural size and enlarged). — 

 The prick of a plant louse and loss of a drop or two of sap 



Fig. 141. 



The Apple Aphis. 



is of little moment to an apple tree ; so is the loss of a drop 

 of water to a pond. But nmltiply the number of lost drops 

 and the pond ma^^ dry up and the tree wither and die. The 

 vast numbers of A[)hides, often seen clustering two to three 

 deep on the green shoots of a favorite tree in the orchard, is 

 a lamentable spectacle. The work to be done by these in- 

 sects is such as, unfortunately for the gardener, to require 

 vast numbers. Every gap opened in their ranks, by the as- 



30 



