94 Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



but like all other immigrants he has made himself 

 at home here, and although I believe the Cynthia 

 fed exclusively on the ailantus tree in China, it will 

 feed here on the sycamore, spicewood, dogwood, 

 plum, wild cherry and other leaves. As a boy, the 

 writer never called these moths Cynthias, he only 

 knew them as the ailantus moths, but Cynthia is a 

 good name for them and one easily remembered. 



The miller measures from four and one-half to 

 nearly six inches from tip to tip, is a sort of olive- 

 green in color, peppered over with black scales, 

 with a lilac band across the wings and the other 

 bands white with a tinge of lilac. The half moons 

 or crescents are yellow and nearly transparent. 

 They have nature's beauty spots, the peacock- 

 feather eye spot, near the tip of the fore-wings and 

 the body has white tufts on it. 



The millers do not eat; they could not if they 

 tried to do so, because their mouth parts are un- 

 finished. They have no tongue, or the tongue they 

 have is a sort of a make-believe affair, a hold-over 

 from the time when they once had tongues which 

 now are of no more use than the buttons on the back 

 of a man's coat. 



