338 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



mains curled sidewise on a leaf. When about to make its 

 cocoon it creeps into chinks of the bark, or into cracks in 

 fences, and spins a loose, half-oval web of silk, intermixed with 

 the hairs of its body ; under this it then makes another and 

 tougher pod of silk, thickened with fragments of bark and 

 wood, and, when its work is done, changes to a chrysalis, in 

 which state it remains till the following summer. 



The caterpillars of the Nonagrians (Nonagriad.e*) are 

 naked, long, slender, and tapering at each end, smooth, and 

 generally of a faint reddish or greenish tint, with an oval, dark 

 colored, horny spotf on the top of the first and last ring. 

 Most of them live within the stems of reeds, flags, and other 

 water-plants ; some in the stems, and even in the roots of 

 plants remote from the water. They devour the pith and the 

 inside of the roots, and transform in the same situations, hav- 

 ing previously gnawed a hole from the inside of their retreat, 

 through the side of the stem or root to the outside skin, which 

 is left untouched, and which the moth can easily break through 

 afterwards. The chrysalids are generally very long and cylin- 

 drical, and are blunt at the extremities. Most of the moths 

 have very long bodies, a smooth thorax, and are of a yellowish 

 clay or drab color; the fore wings want the usual spots, are 

 faintly streaked and dotted with black, and have a scalloped 

 hind margin. Those that do not live in water-plants are dis- 

 tinguished by brighter colors of orange-yellow and brown, with 

 the usual spots more or less distinct on the fore wings, the 

 margin of which is wavy; the collar is prominent, and the 

 thorax crested. In all of them the antennae of the males are 

 slightly thickened with short hairs beneath. 



These insects are fatal to the plants attacked, the greater 

 part of which, however, are without value to the farmer. Indian 

 corn must be excepted ; for it often suffers severely from the 



gara. Apatela signifies deceptive ; and this name was probably given to the 

 genus because the caterpillars appear in the dress of Arctians and Liparians, but 

 produce true owlet-moths or Noctuas. 



* From Nonagria, the meaning of which is uncertain. 



t These dark horny spots are found on the first ring of most of the caterpillars 

 that burrow in the stems of plants, or in the ground. 



