260 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE. 



body tapers towards the head, and becomes thicker as it ap- 

 proaches tlie posterior extremity ; the head is orange, dotted 

 with black, the body pale bluish, crossed by bands of orange 

 and many lines of black. Each segment, except the head 

 and the terminal one, is crossed by an orange band of nearly 

 uniform width, except that on the twelfth segment, which is 

 wider; on the terminal segment there are two bands. All 

 these bands are dotted more or less with black, a single short 

 brown hair arising from each dot. The mimber of black 

 lines crossing each segment is usually six ; b shows one of the 

 segments magnified ; at c the horny shield behind the head is 

 shown ; and at d the hump towards the hinder extremity, 

 all enlarged. The breathing-pores are oval and black. The 

 under side is very similar to the upper. Although partial to 

 the vine, it feeds also on the Virginia creeper, and occasionally 

 on the hop. 



When full grown, Avhich is usually some time during the 

 month of August or early in September, the larva descends 

 from the vine and seeks some suitable location in which to 

 pass the chrysalis state. It frequently bores into decaying 

 wood, and is fond of taking refuge in corn-cobs ; it is also 

 said to burrow under ground sometimes. In confinement it 

 bores readily into pieces of cork, excavating with its jaws a 

 chamber but little larger than the chrysalis which is to rest 

 in it, and when finished the chamber is provided with a cap 

 or cover composed of minute fragments of cork united by a 

 glutinous secretion. On lifting this lid, there will be seen a 

 dark-brown chrysalis, about seven-tenths of an inch long. 

 Sometimes the moth escapes from the chrysalis late in the 

 same season, but commonly it remains in this condition until 

 the following spring. 



This insect is subject to the attacks of a two-winged para- 

 site, a species of Tachina, not unlike the common house-fly in 

 appearance. (See Fig. 270, which shows the insect in its three 

 stages of larva, chrysalis, and fly ; also the anterior segments 

 of a caterpillar, with eggs in position.) This jmrasite is also 



