Classification of Insects: Lepuloptera. 177 



are sometimes laid waste by these devourers. They will even fill 

 ditches that have been dug to arrest their progress, and the only 

 way to control them is to collect in winter and burn the mosses in 

 which they are concealed. 



696. The Noctuce, or owlet moths, chiefly fly by night, and are 

 thick-bodied, swift-flying moths, that do considerable damage to 

 vegetation, and some of them live exposed on the leaves of trees 

 and shrubs, but the greater part feed only by night. 



697. The Geometrce, or span worms, live mostly in the larva state 

 only on the leaves of trees, and undergo their transformation in the 

 ground. Their larvae derive their name from their manner of crawl- 

 ing, by drawing up the body into an arch, 



and then reaching forward for a new hold. 



When disturbed, they drop by a silken thread, 



till the danger is over, and then climb back 



again to their former place, with a tolerably Ib6 Ma ^ foth of the Geom . 



rapid motion, by seizing the thread with span-mTms ne f the 



their jaws and forelegs. 



698. The canker-worm female moths are nearly without wings, 

 and are sluggish in their movements. They in- 

 stinctively make their way from the ground where 



they have been hatched towards the nearest trees, 

 and slowly creep up the trunks, pairing with their 107 Femal % e Moth 

 winged mates in their ascent. They are chiefly in- 

 jurious to the apple and elm trees, but also attack 

 the plum, cherry, and lime trees, 

 and strip them of the pulpy part 

 of the leaves, leaving the mid- 

 ribs and veins remaining. 



699. The Tortrices, or leaf- 

 rollers, are so called from the 



cyliudrical rolls that they form 108 - Larva skS of C u" R^vIgeT' &nd the 

 around themselves at the close 

 of their larva-life. Very few of them make cocoons, and most of 

 them go through their transformations in their leaf-cases. The moths 

 of this tribe are mostly small, and they fold their wings over their 

 bodies when at rest, like a steep roof. Most of them when dis- 



