Pteroporidaeh 



are generally hairy. The pupse are very remarkable, being soft 



and hairy like the caterpillars, and attached in pendant position 



by the cremaster, very much as the chrysalids of some butterflies, 



though a few have rudimentary cocoons in the form of strands 



of silk thrown about them. There are six genera and about 



sixty species of Plume-moths known to occur in the United 



States. We can take space to represent only one of these 



species. 



Genus OXYPTILUS Zeller 



(i) Oxyptilus periscelidactylus Fitch. (The Grape-vine 

 Plume.) 



An exceedingly readable and very interesting account of the 

 habits of this insect, which is universally distributed over the 



whole Appalachian subregion, is 

 given by the late Professor Riley 

 in the "Fourth Missouri Report." 

 The moths may generally be found 

 in vineyards and about grape-vines, 

 when they are beginning to put out 

 their leaves. The eggs are laid on 

 the branches before they begin to 

 blossom, and about the time the 

 third bunch of grapes on a given 

 shoot is beginning to mature, it will 

 be found that the terminal leaves 

 have been drawn together with a 

 few strands of silk, and in the tan- 

 gle thus prepared, under cover from 

 heat and rain, will be found the curi- 

 ous little caterpillars of the Plume- 

 moth. The accompanying cut, taken 

 from the paper of Professor Riley to 

 which allusion has been made, will 

 serve to tell the story better than can 

 be done in brief compass by words. 

 The damage done by the insects is not usually very great, and 

 it is an easy matter for the vine-grower, when he discovers the 

 leaves drawn together in the way pointed out, to pluck off the 

 end of the shoot and destroy the insects. 



416 



Fig. 237. The Grape-vine 

 Plume, a, larvse; b, pupa; c, en- 

 larged view of process on back of 

 pupa; d, moth; e, lateral view of 

 segment of larva. (After Riley.) 



