3 88 



The Moths and Butterflies 





jalsarius, one of the smallest members of the family, expanding inch, com- 

 mon in the East, is black with very narrow reddish collar. Pyromorpha 

 dimidiata, expanding i inch, common in the Atlantic states, is black with 

 translucent wings. The only other genus in the family so far unmentioned 



is Triprocris with eight species, all 

 confined to the western states and all 

 but two of them marked on body or 

 wings with orange or yellowish. 



Of unusual and often very deceptive 

 appearance are the clear-wing moths, 

 or Sesiidae. With their often brightly 

 colored black and yellow or red- 

 banded tapering or plump bodies and 

 partly or wholly clear wings, they 

 resemble strongly, at first glance, wasps 

 or bees, and are undoubtedly often 

 taken to be such and thus left unmo- 

 lested by both collectors and birds, two 

 of their destructive enemies. For birds 

 like almost all moths for food, and 

 collectors especially prize the Sesians 

 for the sake of their attractiveness 

 and the sporting character of their pur- 

 suit and capture, for they are among 

 the swiftest of the moths. They fly 

 in bright sunlight, visiting flowers, 

 and thus by their habits further in- 

 crease their likeness to wasps and bees. 

 There are one hundred species in the 

 family in this country, and almost all 

 have one or both wings partly or mostly 

 clear, i.e., free from scales. A few 

 moths of other families, as the clear- 

 winged sphinges and others, have simi- 

 larly partly clear wings, but the very 

 narrow fore wings and widely expanded 

 bases of the hind wings will distinguish the Sesians from the few other 

 scattered clear-winged moths. The larva? are borers, mining in roots of 

 fruit-trees, the canes and roots of small fruits, or in the stems of herbaceous 

 plants. They are grub-like and yellowish white, with darker head and legs. 

 When abundant they become very injurious, the notorious peach-tree borers 

 being probably the most serious insect enemy of the peach-tree. 



FIG. 551. Bag-worm ; the larva of a moth 

 that builds a protecting case out of 

 silk and bits of sticks, in which its 

 whole body except horny head, thorax, 

 and legs is concealed. (Natural size.) 



