248 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE. 



Remedies. — The readiest and most effectual method of dis- 

 posing of these pests is to pick tliem off the vines and kill 

 them. They are easily found by the denuded canes which 

 mark their course, or where the foliage is dense they may 



be tracked by their large brown castings, 

 Fio 2'ifi • 



which strew the ground under their places 



of resort. Nature has provided a very 

 efficient check to their undue increase, in 

 a small parasitic fly, a species of Ichneu- 

 mon (see Fig. 256), the female of which 

 punctures the skin of the caterpillar and 

 deposits her eggs underneath, where they soon hatch into 

 young larvae, which feed upon the fatty portions of their 

 victim, avoiding the vital organs. By the time the sphinx 

 caterpillar has become full grown, these parasitic larvse have 



„ „_ matured, and, eating their way 



Fig 2o7. , ,,,.„,, 



^^ through the skin of their host, they 



\\ /tXYr >f construct their tiny snow-white 



cocoons on its body, as shown in 



Fig. 257, from which, in about a 



week, the friendly fly escapes by pushing open a nicely-fitting 



lid at one end of its structure. No larva thus infested ever 



reaches maturity ; it invariably shrivels up and dies. 



No. 133.— The Pandorus Sphinx. 



Philampelus Pandorus (Illibn.). 

 This is one of the most beautiful of our Sphinx moths, a 

 rare as well as lovely creature, and an object highly prized by 

 collectors. It is found throughout the Northern United States, 

 and occasionally in Canada, but is nowhere very common. It 

 is represented in Fig. 258. Its wings, when expanded, will 

 measure from four to four and a half inches across; they are 

 of a light-olive color, mLxed with gray, and varied with 

 patches of a darker olive-green, rich and velvety, and some 

 portions, especially on the hind wings, of a rosy hue. The 

 body is pale greenish brown, ornamented with dark-olive 



