314 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



those of the Ceratocampians, are provided with notched trans- 

 verse ridges on the rings, by means of which they push them- 

 selves out of their holes when ready to be transformed. The 

 moths differ a good deal from each other, although the appear- 

 ance and habits of the caterpillars are so much alike. The 

 antenna in some are threadlike, or made up of nearly cylin- 

 drical joints put together like a string of beads; in others they 

 are more tapering, and doubly pectinated or toothed on the 

 under side, at least in the males ; and in Zeuzera, a kind of 

 moth not hitherto found in this country, the antennae resemble 

 those of the Ceratocampians, being half-feathered in the males, 

 and not feathered in the females. The wings are rather long 

 and narrow, and are strengthened by very numerous veins. 

 The female is provided with a kind of tube at the end of the 

 body, that can be drawn in and out, by means of which she 

 thrusts her eggs into the chinks of the bark or into the earth at 

 the roots of plants. 



Of the root-eaters there is one kind which is very injurious 

 to the hop-vine in Europe. It is called Heplolus Humuli, the 

 hop-vine Hepiolus. The caterpillar is yellowish white; the 

 head, a spot on the top of the first and second rings, and the 

 six fore legs are shining brown, and it is nearly naked, or has 

 only a few short hairs scattered over its body. It lives in the 

 roots of the hop, and, when about to transform, buries itself in 

 the ground, and makes a long, cylindrical cocoon or case, 

 composed of grains of earth held together by a loose silken 

 web. The chrysalis has transverse rows of little teeth on the 

 backs of the abdominal rings, and by means of them it finally 

 works its way out of the cocoon and rises to the surface of the 

 earth ; this being done, the included moth bursts its chrysalis 

 shell, and comes forth into the open air. In moths of this 

 kind (genus Hepiolus) the antennae are very short, slender, 

 almost thread-like, and not feathered or pectinated ; the tongue 

 is wanting or invisible ; and the feelers are excessively small, 

 and concealed in a tuft of hairs. The hop-vine Hepiolus has 

 not yet been detected in Massachusetts ; but we have a much 

 larger species, known to me only in the moth state, which is 

 the reason of my having given the foregoing account of the 



