28 



ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



out of which they suck nectar with their very long pro- 

 boscis. Some are called humming-bird moths on account 

 of the resemblance of their flight to the flight of the hum- 

 ming bird. One of the largest and best known of the numer- 

 ous species of this family is the tomato-worm moth. It 

 has a large, smooth, green larva with oblique white mark- 



-vf^^sf ^ 



FIG. 20. Tobacco worm. This gives rise to a sphynx moth. (After 



Howard.) 



ings on the side and a curved horn at the posterior end 

 of the body. It feeds on tomato and potato vines and 

 upon tobacco. 



The very large group of owlet moths or Noctuidae 

 include many of the most injurious species. The army 

 worms which attack corn and grain, the cut worms of our 

 gardens, the cotton boll worm which is estimated to cause 



over $2,000,000 damage a year 

 to the cotton growers, and many 

 ether species which live upon 

 the kind of vegetation that man 

 happens to be interested in be- 

 long to this family. Belonging 

 borer, with larva, /. and pupa, p. to a related family is the gipsy 



moth, Porthetria dispar, which 



was brought from Europe into Massachusetts in 1868. It 

 spread with such rapidity and its larvae did so much 

 damage to shade trees and forest trees that the state or- 

 ganized a systematic attempt to exterminate it, spending 

 over $1,000,000 in spraying, destroying the eggs, and in 

 other methods of warfare. Meanwhile the gipsy moth 

 thrives. 



FIG. 21. Imported currant- 



