51 



worm, is wingless, and while her mate flies about witli entire free- 

 dom, she is compelled to creep in a rather abject manner. 



The male (upper figure) is of a yellowish color, shaded with 

 spots of brown, and, as may be noticed in the figure, there is a very 

 brown line across the front wings. The iiind wings are brown, 

 and not spotted or marked. The female is of the somewhat oval 

 form shown in figure 38.. She is of a light yellow or even white 

 color, with a double row of black spots along tlie back. Tlie 

 larva is a measuring worm about an inch or an inch and a quarter 

 long. Its body is yellow, with ten longitudinal black stripes, and 

 there are sometimes dark spots. The head is reddish brown, and 

 the under side of the body is }ellow. It feeds on the leaves of the 

 basswood, elm, and a great variety of other trees. After feeding 

 in May and June the larvEe descend from the trees by means of a 

 silk thread bv which they let themselves down to the ground. 

 They enter the earth and make a cell a little below the surface, and 

 remain as pupae until the last of October or later, when the moths 

 appear. The female seeks to creep up the trunk of some adjacent 

 tree that she may place her eggs near the ends of the branches, 

 where they may remain to hatch the following spring. The habits 

 of this moth are so much like those of the canker worm, thatthe 

 remedies recommended for that insect may be applied to this. 



This group of geometers or measuring worms to which the in- 

 sects we are now studying belong, is a very large and very inteiest- 

 ing one. 



The caterpillars belonging to it vary a good deal in form, size, 

 etc., and yet they may, for the most part, be readily recognized 

 by tlieir peculiar way of measuring their length along as they creep. 

 Instead of moving with the gliding or undulating motion of most cat- 

 erpillars, these cling by the front or true feet, and loop up the back 

 until the hind or false feet are brought up to the front ones, then 

 the front part of the bodv is thrust forward until the back is again 

 straiglit, and thus by alternating looping and extending, tiiey move 

 along. As lias been noticed, the group or family of measuring 

 worms is a very large one, embracing lunuheds of species. One 

 of these measuring worms is called 



A))iphidasys cog>iitaria^ Guen. 



I do not think it has any common name. The moth is white, 

 "very thickly sprinkled \\ ith aslix' l)lack," Packard. The hn va is 



