72 SMOKY MOTHS. 
This insect is not seen very often on our grape-vines, but 
as this moth has been frequently seen near the electric light 
it must be rather common. The caterpillars are not so 
particular about their food as the other closely allied species 
and they have also been found feeding upon such plants as 
Epilobium and Hibiscus. 
The four species of Wood-Nymphs are also shown in Fig. 
(O; Plate X. 
FAMILY PYROMORPHIDEZ OR SMOKY MOTHS. 
But few moths belonging to this family are found in the 
United States. The moths are small, chiefly of a smoky- 
black color, although some are marked with brighter colors. 
THE AMERICAN PROCRIS. 
(Harrisima americana Harr.). 
The writer has never found in Minnesota the caterpil- 
lars of this insect, which is quite destructive to the foliage 
of the grape-vine in other states, but as he has repeatedly 
captured the moths there is no doubt that the insect is an 
inhabitant of our state. 
The eges, twenty or more of which were deposited to- 
gether, are fastened to the under side of the leaves. 
The caterpillars of the Procris do not scatter after leav- 
ing the eggs, as all the insects described before, but lead a 
social life, feeding side by side on the under side of a leaf, 
their heads all directed towards the margin of the same. 
These little worms, in black and yellow uniforms, eat at first 
only the soft tissues of the foliage, leaving the fine net-work 
of veins untouched; but as they grow older and stronger all 
but the large veins areeaten. The caterpillars reach their 
full size in August, and measure now about six-tenths of an 
inch. They are at that age of a yellow color, slightlyhairy, 
with a transverse row of rather large spots on each seg- 
