[41] Report of tee State Entomologist. 183 



Those who may desire further information of these two insects, and 

 of two other species, of which the larvae resemble them closely, are 

 referred to an article in Professor Kiley's sixth Missouri report, 

 entitled " The Blue Caterpillars of the Vine," in which corrections are 

 made of confounding of larvps in pz-eceding reports; and to one con- 

 tained in my " Entomological Contributions, No. 3 " (Twenty-sixth 

 Annual Eeport on the New York State Museum of Natural History, 

 1874), entitled "On the Larva of Eudryas unio and Allied Forms." 



Remedies. 



Where the vines are not very large the conspicuously marked cater- 

 pillars of either of these two species can be easily discovered upon 

 the leaves when they have attained a sufficient size to be of material 

 damage. If those which can be reached from the ground or by the 

 aid of a ladder, be gathered and destroyed the ravages will be greatly 

 lessened. If the extent of the vine is too great for hand-picking, or 

 the operation proves disagreeable from the green liquid that the 

 Alypia caterpillar commonly ejects when handled, I would recommend, 

 as the most economical and safest method of dealing with the cater- 

 pillars, showering while they are still young with hot water by means 

 of a garden hose attached to the hot-water faucet of the kitchen, if 

 accessible. The water, partly cooled by its passage through the air, 

 will probably not retain sufficient heat to injure the plants, but quite 

 enough to kill the caterpillars which it reaches, for as a rule the 

 lepidopterous larvae can not endure any great degree of heat. If 

 insecticides need to be used, pyrethrum water or a kerosene emulsion 

 would be efficient. 



When nearly mature, numbers of the Alypia caterpillar can be made 

 to drop to the ground if the vines that they infest be suddenly shaken 

 or brushed, when they can be gathered and killed. Droj^ping them in 

 a can containing a little kerosene is a convenient method of killing 

 them, as well as all other hand-j)icked insects. 



Phobetron pithecium (Sm.-Abb.). 



The Hag-Moth Caterpillar. 

 (Ord. Lepidoptera: Fam. Bombycid^.) 



Phnlcena pithecium Smith-Abbot: Nat. Hist. Lep. Ins. Geo., ii, 1797, p. 147, 



pi. 74. 

 Ecnoynidea pithecium Duncan: in Nat. Lib.— Entomol.,vii,1841,pp. 183-186, 



pi. 21, f. 3 9,4 larva. 

 Limacodesvithecinm Harris : Eept. Ins, Mass., 1841, p. 304; Ins. New Eng., 



1852, p. 324; Ins. Inj. Veg., 1862, p. 421, figs. 208, 209; Entomolog. 



Corr., 1869, p. 244-5. 

 6 



