Common Insect Enemies 131 



side, and then they would unwind the silk which eventually 

 would be converted into sheer hosiery to cover some beautiful 

 and many not-so-beautiful American legs. This, however, 

 was long ago. Things have changed a lot since the Ehi Pont 

 Company, by virtue of clever advertising, convinced our 

 American females that if they want to be whistled at — and 

 what woman doesn't? — they must encase their underpinnings 

 in Nylon. 



But take your choice, Nylon or silk. We don't care! 

 In fact, if your legs are sufficiently free from blemishes and 

 not too fuzzy, go around barelegged. We only mentioned 

 the silkworms, anyway, as an example of the relationship be- 

 tween butterflies and moths and caterpillars. And we aren't 

 going to get into an argument as to the difference between 

 moths and butterflies. Our bug collector friends tell us that 

 they are both members of the class of inseas known as 

 Lepidoptera, and as far as we can find out the division of this 

 group of insects into butterflies and moths is entirely an 

 artificial one. In general, moths fly at night and butterflies 

 fly in the daytime. Furthermore, when butterflies are at 

 rest they generally fold their wings together above their backs 

 in a vertical position, while moths either wrap their wings 

 around their bodies, spread them horizontally, or fold them 

 in a roof -like manner over their abdomens. To all of which 

 you will probably say: "So what?" 



But to get down to business. Moths and butterflies, 

 in spite of their beauty, are very destructive. Not that they 

 do direct damage, but because they are the parents of tril- 

 lions of caterpillars, each of which eats many times its weight 

 of vegetation. These are the inseas that destroy millions of 

 dollars worth of fruit a year, as well as our shade and forest 

 trees. And of course, one member of the species dearly loves 



