404 



The Moths and Butterflies 



dagger-moth Acronycta (Figs. 586 and 587), so called from the rather uncer- 

 tain small black dagger-like markings of the fore wings, have the larva in 

 some species covered with long colored stiff hairs; the familiar caterpillar 



of A. americana is densely clothed with 

 yellow hairs, besides bearing a pair of 

 long black pencils on the first abdominal 

 segment, another pair on the third, and 

 a single pencil on the eighth. It feeds on 

 the leaves of elm, maple, and other trees, 

 and when at rest curls sidewise on a leaf. 

 The army- worm (Fig. 583), a black, 

 yellow, and green striped caterpillar 

 that occurs over nearly all the country 

 and often appears in enormous numbers, 

 causing great losses to grain-fields, is 

 the larva of a dull-brown moth, Leu- 

 cania unipuncta, marked in the center 

 of each fore wing with a distinct white 

 spot. Perhaps as severe a sufferer as 



FIG. 584. Venation of a 



Agrotis ypsilon. cs, costal vein; 

 subcostal vein; r, radial rein; 

 medial vein; c, cubHal^vem;^ a^anal any other fidd prO( ]uct from the attacks 



of Noctuid larvae is cotton. The cotton- 



veins. (After Comstock; enlarged.) 



worm, Aleliaargillacea, feeds on the foliage of the cotton-plants and the cotton 

 boll-worm, Heliothis armigera, attacks the cotton pods or bolls. These two 

 caterpillars cause losses to the cotton-growing states of millions of dollars 



FIG. 585. FIG. 586. 



FIG. 585. Larvae of the gray dagger-moth, Acronycta occidentalis. (After Lugger; 



natural size.) 

 FIG. 586. Gray dagger-moth, Acronycta occidentalis. (After Lugger; natural size.) 



every year. The cotton boll-worm is more or less familiar in states farther 

 north, under the name of corn-worm, where it is found feeding on ears of 

 green corn and on tomatoes. It is a naked, greenish-brown, dark -striped 

 caterpillar. The moth has pale clay-yellow fore wings with a greenish tint, 

 the hind wings paler. 



Among the most conspicuous of all the caterpillars are the not unfamiliar 

 larvae of the tussock-moths, Lymantriidae, one common species infesting our 



