166 OWLET-MOTHS. 
a half long, naked, tapering towards the front and _ thick- 
ened behind. It has a small head, whitish-green in color, 
with the powerful mandibles tipped with black; the body is 
also whitish-green, a little darker on the sides, with a white 
stripe on the back, widening behind and slightly broken be- 
tween the segments. A bright yellow stripe occurs on each 
side and asecond one of the same color, but fainter, half way 
between this and one on the back, which is more distinct 
posteriorly and which follows the peculiar prominence on 
thetwelfth segment. The under side of the body is pale-green. 
As soon as mature the caterpillar descends to the ground, 
where it draws together some old leaves or similar material, 
among which it spins a slight cocoon, inside of which it 
changes to a dark-brown pupa, from which the adult insect 
escapes the latter part of July or early in August. 
The moth is a large and rather heavy insect, measuring 
across the wings about one and three-quarter inches. The 
fore-wings, which have a peculiar silky lustre, are dark 
brown, shaded with paler brown and with dots and wavy 
lines of dull white: the hind-wings are reddish with a cop- 
pery lustre, becoming brown on the outer angle of the front 
edge of the wing and paler towards the hinder and inner 
angle. The under surface of the wings is much paler than 
the upper. The body is dark brown; the rings have a pale 
border. Both moth and caterpillar are shown in Fig. 165. 
THE SILKY PYROPHILA. 
(Pyrophila tragopoginis Linn.). 
Only a single specimen of this interesting moth has been 
captured, in Rochester, Minn. Its caterpillar feeds upon the 
grape, and occurs in the Eastern States in sufficient numbers 
to become a source of annoyance. According to Saunders 
the caterpiHar of this moth is of a yellowish-green color, 
with a very few fine brownish hairsscattered over the upper 
