388 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Moths continued. 



front wings are rather narrow, the hind wings broad, 

 and folded lengthwise. On each front wing are usually 

 two spots, the inner round (orbicular stigma), the outer 

 kidney-shaped (reniform stigma) ; and there are often two 

 or more light cross lines. The hind wings are frequently 



FIG. 598. GIPSY MOTH (FEMALE). 



unspotted (see Fig. 602). The body is usually thick 

 and heavy. The colour of the whole insect is usually 

 dull, though often the markings are very elegant when 

 examined closely. A few Noctuce are brightly coloured, 

 or bear metallic spots on the wings. The larvae are 

 usually smooth-skinned and dull in colour, or are marked 

 with bright lines, and spots occasionally. They generally 



FIG. 599. LACKEY MOTH. 



have five pairs of prolegs, though, in a few genera 

 (Plusia, &c.), the middle pairs of prolegs are small, or 

 absent, forming a transition to the next tribe. Many of 

 the larvae are most hurtful to garden produce. They 

 usually go underground to change into pupae. See 

 Mamestra, Noctua, Plusia, and Potherb Moths. 



4. The Geometrina, or Looper Moths, are readily dis- 

 tinguished from all others, except the few Noctuce men- 



Fio. 600. TIGER MOTH. 



tioned above, by the larvae being long and slender, and 

 moving in a peculiar manner, known as looping. This is 

 caused by the fact that the middle pairs of prolegs are 

 useless, or are entirely wanting. Usually only the pairs 

 on the last two rings of the body are present, and the 

 caterpillar, in moving along, has to bring the hinder ex- 

 tremity forward before fixing it and pushing forward the 

 anterior part with the three pairs of true legs. Every 

 step thus throws the body into a loop. The moths re- 

 semble butterflies in their slender bodios, and in the 

 size and form of the wings, as well as in their usual 

 attitude when at rest. The proboscis in them is usually 

 small, or wanting. The antennae are slender, or may be 



Moths continued. 



comb-like in the males. The colours are mostly dull, 

 often with very elegant lines or bars, but with neither 

 stigma on the wings ; a few are bright in colour. In a 

 few genera, the females are nearly, or quite, wingless. 

 The pupae are usually concealed underground, in earthen 

 cells. The larvae usually feed exposed, or may spin leaves 

 together, to obtain protection against danger from without. 

 The Looper Moths are far less widely hurtful than the 

 Noctuce, yet several species may be found referred to 

 more at length under Gooseberry or Magpie Moth, 

 Hybernia, and Winter Moth (which see). 



A knowledge of many of the Microlepidoptera, despite 

 their very small size, is of great importance to gardeners, 

 since they injure extremely the leaves and other parts of 

 plants. The three great tribes of this group are as follows : 



FIG. 601. VAPOURER MOTH. 



1. Pyralidina. In this tribe are contained the largest 

 of the Micros ; but they seldom do much injury to garden 

 produce, hence they need not be dwelt on here. They fre- 

 quently approach small Noctuina in habit and appearance. 



2. Tortricina, or Leaf Boiler Moths, are a very 

 numerous group of small Moths, in. to lin. in spread 

 of wings. The front wings are broad, with the front 

 margin close to the base peculiarly arched ; and one over- 

 laps the other when folded. In colour, the front wings 

 are frequently green, brown, rusty-brown, yellow, &c., 



FIG. 602. POTHERB MOTH. 



or are marked with peculiarly elegant spots or lines. 

 Their palpi are short and inconspicuous ; their larvae 

 are like those of Noctuina, save in size, and possess, gene- 

 rally, five pairs of prolegs. They live, for the most part, 

 between leaves, spun together, or rolled into tubes. See 

 Leaf Rollers. The larvae are very agile, dropping 

 from their tubes at once when a bird tries to catch 

 them there. Many of them are more or less injurious 



FIG. 603. CODLIN MOTH. 



to trees, and to cultivated planbs, e.g., the Codlin Moth 

 (Carpocapsa pomonana, see Fig. 603), and the genus Tortrix. 

 3. Tineina is a tribe of very wide numerical extent. It 

 includes the smallest of the Moths, some of the species 

 being extremely minute. They differ from Tortricina 

 in having narrow wings, with long hind fringes ; a slender 

 body; proboscis very small, or absent; palpi long, pro- 

 minent, and ascending; and the hind feet customarily 

 long, and furnished with spurs ; eyes naked. These 

 Moths vary extremely in colour, their beauty of colouring 

 under a microscope, being frequently unsurpassed in 

 insects. The larvae are usually smooth, or nearly so, and 

 of the ordinary form. They vary much in number of pro- 

 legs ; five pairs is their usual number, but, in a few, there 

 are six ill-formed pairs ; in others, there are four pairs ; 

 and others are almost footless. The larvae also vary 



