INSECT IISTJUKIES. 



395 



Besides these more common enemies, the hop has others 

 which, in their way, commit great and serious ravages. 

 The caterpillars of the " otter-moth" Hepialus humuli 



1 and 2. Eggs, natural size and magnified. 3. Larva or caterpillar. 4. Chrysalis of do. 

 5 and 6. Moth Hepialus humuli male and female, natural size. 



infest the undisturbed roots, which they penetrate with 

 their strong jaws, consuming the inside as well as the bark. 

 The female moth deposits her eggs in June, and the larvae 

 yellowish white in colour, with scattered hairs bury 

 themselves and feed below the surface until they are from 

 1 inch to nearly 2 inches in length. The sexes differ in 

 colour and in size, the males being the smallest, and of a 

 satiny white appearance on the outside, and a dusky brown 

 on the inside of the wings, which, while they are flitting 

 about in churchyards and other quiet places at twilight, 

 causes them to appear and disappear as their white or 

 dusky sides fall upon the sight, startling the superstitious, 

 and obtaining for them the common name of " ghost-moths." 

 A peculiar centipede, to which the specific name of 

 Geophilus humuli has been given, is frequently met 



