248 



JNSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE. 



Fig. 25G. 



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

 posing of these pests is to pick them 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, 

 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 

 through tlie skin of their host, they 

 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 o})en a nicely-fitting 

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

 reaches maturity ; it invariably shrivels up and dies. 



Fig 257. 



No. 133.— The Pandorus Sphinx. 



PMlampelus Pandorus (Illibn.). 

 This is one of the most beautiful of our Spliinx 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, mixed with gray, and varied with 

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

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

 body is pale greenish brown, ornamented with dark-olive 



