AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



387 



Moths continued. 



lepidoptera (meaning large scale-winged insects), seldom 

 under lin. across the outspread wings, and often much 

 larger; and the Microlepidoptera (or small scale-winged 

 insects), seldom exceeding lin. across the wings (except 

 in Pyralidina) , and often much smaller. In both sec- 

 tions there are numerous species that injure cultivated 

 plants. Each section includes several tribes, which are 

 generally more or less characterised by the habits of 

 the larvae, as well as by peculiarities in the structure of 

 the perfect insects. The following are the more important 

 tribes and families : 



1. Sphingina, or the Hawk Moth tribe, including the 

 true Hawk Moths, the Humming Bird Hawk Moths (see 

 Macrogiossa stellatarum), and the Clear- wing Moths. 



FIG. 594. HUMMING BIRD HAWK MOTH. 



They all have long, narrow, front wings (see Fig. 594), which 

 they move rapidly; and fly in a peculiar fashion. They have 

 a long proboscis, or trunk ; and their antennas are thick in 

 the middle, and taper to both ends. The larvae of the true 

 Hawk Moths are seldom very hurtful to garden plants, 



Moths continued. 



sucking up food. The males often have the antenna) 

 feathered largely on both sides; the antennae of the 

 females, on the other hand, are usually slender. They 

 mostly fly by day, and are often brightly coloured. The 

 larvae are very frequently hairy and brightly coloured. 



FIG. 595. DEATH'S HEAD MOTH. 



though that of the Death's Head Moth (Fig. 595) feeds 

 on Potato, on Jasmine, and on Lycium barbarum; that 

 of the Privet Hawk Moth on Priyet, and those of the 

 genus Smerinthus on Willows, Poplars, Apple, Lime, 

 &c. They often have a straight or curved horn, or tail, 

 at the end of the body. The Clear-wing Moths, as larvae, 

 live in burrows, in the roots and stems of many plants, 

 and often do considerable damage e.g., Sesia tipuliformis 

 in Currant branches, and 8. apiformis (see Fig. 596) in 

 Poplars. 



2. The tribe Bombycina includes a considerable number 

 of Moths, usually of large size, with heavy bodies. 

 Their wings are relatively weak, so that they at least, 

 the females are not very active on the wing, and the 

 females of some kinds are practically wingless. They 

 usually have the proboscis small, and hardly fit for 



FIG. 596. CLEAR-WING MOTH. 



Many of them are very hurtful to garden produce. 

 The Silkworms (i.e., larvaB that produce silk for their 

 cocoons in such quantity as to be of commercial import- 

 ance) belong to this tribe, and chiefly to the genera 

 Bombyx and Saturnia. Bombyx mori is the common 

 Silkworm Moth. Among the many species of this tribe 

 that might be noted, we shall here mention only a few, 

 concerning which fuller information will be found under 

 the respective names. They are : Brown-tail, Gold-tail, 

 and Gipsy Moths (Liparis, see Figs. 597 and 598) ; Lackey 

 Moth (Bombyx neustria, see Fig. 599), Tiger Moths (Arctia 

 caja and A. villica, see Fig. 600), and Vapourer Moth 

 (Orgyia antique, see Fig. 601). 



Nearly related to the true Bomby- 

 cina, and often included among them, 

 are the Ghost Swifts (Hepialidce), of 

 which the commonest species (Hepialus 

 humuli) feeds, in the larval state, in 

 the roots of many plants, and is at 

 times very hurtful to the Hop. The 

 larvae are smooth, and dull ochreous 

 in colour. The moths have very short, 

 slender antennas. Closely allied to the 

 Hepialidce are the Zeuxeridce, repre- 

 sented by the Goat Moth (Cossua 

 ligniperda) and the Leopard Moth 

 (Zeuzera cesculi) ; the larvae of both 

 feed in the wood of trees. The 

 Notodontidae, or Pseudo-bombyces, are 

 frequently separated off as a family 

 distinct from the true Bombyces, 

 from which, however, they differ in no very 

 important respect. The larvae of this family are 

 frequently of very strange forms, with humps, or 

 warts, or long filaments at the tip of the body, 

 as in the Puss Moth. They mostly live on trees, 

 and the only species among them that is common 

 enough to be injurious to any extent is the Buff- 

 tip Moth (Pygcera bucephala), which feeds on almost any 

 of our native, as well as on many cultivated, trees. 



FIG. 597. GIPSY MOTH (MALE) 



3. The next great tribe is Noctuina, or Night Moths, 

 so called because of their generally flying by night. In 

 this tribe the antennae p-re almost always slender; the 



