SLUG CATERPILLARS ON ORANGE. 



143 



FIG. 62. Phobctron pi- 

 thccium, larva, (af- 

 ter lliley ) 



side. These tufts give to the bullet- shaped cocoon a very nondescript 

 appearance, and the stinging hairs afford a very perfect protection 

 against birds and other insectivorous animals. 



Unlike the preceding species, the Hag-moth larvse do not seek to hide 

 away their cocoons, but attach them to leaves and twigs fully exposed 

 to view, with, however, such artful management as to 

 surroundings and harmonizing colors that they are of 

 all the group the most difficult to discover. A device 

 to which this insect frequently resorts exhibits the 

 extreme of instinctive sagacity. If the caterpillar 

 cannot find at hand a suitable place in which to weave 

 its cocoon it frequently makes for itself more satisfac- 

 tory surroundings by killing the leaves, upon which, 

 after they have become dry and brown in color, it 

 places its cocoon. 



Several of these caterpillars unite together, and selecting a long and 

 vigorous immature shoot or leader of the orange tree, they kill it by 

 cutting into its base until it wilts and bends over. 



The leaves of a young shoot, in drying, turn a light tan-color, which 

 harmonizes most perfectly with the hairy locks of the caterpillar cov- 

 ering the cocoon. The latter is, consequently, not easily 

 detected, even when placed upon the exposed and up 

 turned surface of the leaf. 



The moth has body and legs of purple-brown, with 

 ochreous patches on the back and a light yellow tuft on 

 the middle pair of legs. The abdomen is sable, ending 

 in a tuft of ochreous scales. The fore-wings have the 

 colors of the thorax finely mingled, as in graining. The hind-wings are 

 sable, bordered with ochreous in the female. The fore wings of the male 

 are long and narrow, the hind-wings short and very triangular. Both 

 pairs are, in this sex, partly transparent. 



^The spread of wing varies in this moth from 20 to 24 mm (-$,- inch to 

 -ft% inch). 



THE SKIFF-CATERPILLAR. 



(Limacodes scapha Harris.) 

 [Figs. 64 and 65.1 



The generic name Limacodes, signifying slug-like, is very appropri- 

 ately given to this naked and slow-moving caterpillar, which is thus 

 described by Harris : " Body thick, and its outline nearly diamond- 

 shaped ; the back is a little hollowed and the middle of each side rises 

 to an obtuse angle ; it is of green color with the elevated edges brown 

 The boat-like form of this caterpillar induced me to name it Limacodes 

 scapha, the skiff Limacodes," (Ins, Inj. to Yegetation, p. 419.) 



FIG. 63. Phobe- 

 tron pithcciinn, 

 cocoon. (Oiigi- 

 nal.) 



