THE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



197 



moths may be readily recognized, their slender bodies, small heads, 

 and broad wings, which are usually noticeably thin and frail, give 

 them a characteristic appearance. They frequent forests and edges 

 of woodlands, and though a few are orchard pests, and others 

 affect the bush fruits, 

 nearly all of the cater- 

 pillars feed upon the 

 foliage of forest or 

 shade trees, and but 

 few frequent low-grow- 

 ing vegetation. The 

 moths vary from less 

 than an inch to over 

 two inches in wing 

 expanse, but are mostly 

 of medium size. The 

 wings remain spread 

 when at rest. Possibly 

 the best-known exam- 

 ples are the canker- 

 worms, which attack 

 the foliage of fruit and 

 shade trees in early 

 spring and drop down 

 from the trees on their 

 silken threads. The 

 females of the canker- 

 worms and some nearly 

 related species are wing- 

 less and look much 

 more like fat spiders 

 than moths. The chain- 

 dotted geometer (Cin- 

 gilia catenaria] is a snow-white moth marked with zigzag lines 

 and dots of black. Its larvae feed on various low-growing shrubs 

 and trees and sometimes appear in great numbers, as was the case 

 in New Hampshire in 1 906, when many acres of sweet fern and 

 scrub birches were stripped. The larvae are of a bright straw yellow, 



FIG. 309. The chain-dotted geometer (Cingilia 



catenaria] ; larva ; larva spinning cocoon ; pupa in 



cocoon; moth. (Slightly enlarged) 



