56 CLEAR-WINGED ‘MOTHS. 
but this is sometimes wanting. The fore-wings are brown- 
ish-black, with a more or less distinct clear patch at the 
base; the hind-wings are transparent, with the veins, ter- 
minal border, and fringe, brownish-black. 
- The insect is much morecommon inthe Southern States, 
where it is sometimes very destructive to the wild and culti- 
vated grapes. It is said that the female moth deposits her 
eggs upon the collar of the vine, close to the earth. As soon 
as hatched the worm enters the cane and descends to the 
roots, where it consumes the bark and sap-wood, eating ir- 
regular furrows in their substance; sometimes it eats the 
bark, and at other times works its way into the roots. The 
mature larva is of a yellowish-white color, with darker 
Fig. 59.—Sciapteron polistiformis Harr., larva, cocoon, male and female. 
head and legs, and measures about an inch and a half in 
length. It now forms a pod-like cocoon of a gummy sort 
of silk, covered with little bits of wood, bark and earth, 
and situated within or adjacent to the injured root. In this 
cocoon the larva changes to a brown pupa which works 
itself out of it by means of minute teeth upon the margins 
of the segments, as soon as the moth within is ready to 
emerge. Fig. 59 shows the different states of this insect. 
