214 THE GRAPE CULTUEIST. 



bright; all the wings are bordered with white. The 

 front wings of both sexes are each furnished with two 

 white spots, but while in the male there is but one large 

 spot on the hind wings, in the female this spot is invari- 

 ably more or less constricted in the middle, especially 

 above, and is often entirely divided into two distinct 

 spots, as shown in the right-hand, or female moth in 

 Fig. 83. These moths, when disturbed, are very active, 

 and soon wriggle out of the leaf and drop to the ground. 

 Crushing with finger and thumb is the only way I have 

 ever found to destroy them, and although I have fought 

 these pests for years, they are still very plentiful in my 

 grounds. 



The Yellow Bear (Spilosoma Virginica). This 

 is also known as the salt marsh caterpillar, because it 

 breeds in the salt marshes ; and towards autumn, when 

 nearly full grown, it migrates to the uplands, invading 



FIG. 84. 



gardens and vineyards, overrunning and stripping the 

 vines of their leaves. It is only near the seacoast that 

 these caterpillars are very numerous and destructive. 

 The moth is white, with a small discal dot on the fore 

 wings, and two black dots on the hind wings, one on the 

 middle and another near the inner angle. The caterpil- 

 lar, when full grown, is about two inches long, and cov- 

 ered with long yellowish hair, Fig. 84, hence one of its 

 common names. Hand picking is the best and surest 

 way of getting rid of this pest, and as they are so large 

 they are not at all difficult to collect while feeding. 



Sphingidse, or Sphinx Moths. Among the 

 sphinges we have some of the most voracious of all the 



