28 



ZOOLOGY 



attracted by our lamplights. They are the most numer- 

 ous of all our moths, eighteen hundred species being known 

 from our country. Among the largest members of this 

 group are the Catocala l moths already 

 referred to. Here also are placed the 

 boll-worm, which eats cotton-pods and 

 green ears of maize ; the cotton-worm, 

 which destroys the foliage of cotton ; 

 the army-worm, which devours grass 

 and young grain ; and the myriad cut- 

 worms, of which some gnaw off young 

 garden shoots at the level of the ground, 

 while other kinds ascend trees and de- 

 stroy buds. To the Noctuidss belong 

 also the Tussock moth (Fig. 29), whose 

 variegated larva bears dense brush-like 

 tufts of whitish hairs on the first four 

 abdominal segments, and is very de- 

 structive to shade trees in our cities ; the 

 Gypsy moth, lately imported into Massa- 

 chusetts, where the state has attempted 

 its annihilation ; and the Brown-tail 

 moth, also lately imported to Boston. 

 FIG. 29. Notoiophus, The Gcometridae, or measuring-worms, 

 Tt X ,!S <, like the Noctuids, very numerous 

 is shown below a and very destructive. They are so 

 ^U^" called because the larva, have a way 

 From life. Photo. o f proceeding, as it were, by inches in 

 their locomotion. One of the most im- 

 portant subdivisions is that of the canker-worms, which 

 often strip fruit and shade trees of their foliage. 



1 /card, below ; /co\6s, beautiful. 



