CLASS I. INSECTA: ORDER 4. LEPIDOPTERA. 



579 



The repast finished, they return towcard the nest, one commencing the movement, and the others 

 taking up the line of march. In this manner they reach their habitation precisely in the order 

 in which they left it." 



The larvfe of several allied species have the same singular liabit as the preceding. 



The Goat Moth, Cossus ligniperdu, which is one of the largest British lepidoptera, also be- 

 longs to this tribe ; the larva feeds upon the wood of willows, to which it often does immense 

 damage. 



The Zigzag, Bomhyx dispar, has a short trunk or tube, not suited for suction ; the male is 



much smaller than the female ; his superior wings being brown with black zigzag figures. The 



female is whitish with black spots on her wings. This is a European species which sometimes 



does immense damage to the fruit-trees. If handled, it causes intense itching to the hands and 



fingers. 



THE NOCTUIXA. 



This tribe includes a great number of moths of middling or large size, generally of dull colors, 

 and strictly nocturnal in their habits. The antennae are generally bristle-like, a little longer than 

 the head and thorax ; the wings large, the anterior pair longer but narrower than the posterior, 

 which are slightly folded in repose. The caterpillars are generally naked, and furnished with 

 sixteen feet. The pupse are usually inclosed in a loose cocoon. 



A few exceptions to the usual somber coloring of the insects of this tribe are to be met with, 

 principally in species which are moer diurnal in their habits than the rest. The Catocalce and 

 Triphcence are distinguished by the bright red and orange color of their posterior wings, and the 

 Plusice, which often fly in the bright daylight, have the anterior wings adorned with metallic 



tints and markings. 



THE GEOMETRINA. 



In these the wings are large and broad and the body slender. Tlie name of the group is 



derived from the structure and habits 

 of the caterpillars, which are popularly 

 known under the various titles of Loop- 

 ers, Measurers^ Spamvorms, and Tailors. 

 In progression they hold by their tho- 

 racic feet, bring the hinder extremities 

 close to these, bending their bodies into 

 a loop, adhering by the pro-legs, and 

 then again extending the fore part of 

 the body for a fresh step. In this man- 

 ner they proceed, apparently measuring 

 the ground over which they travel, 

 whence they have received the names 

 above as well as that of Geometricians. 

 Many of them present a close resem- 

 blance, in color and texture, to a piece 

 of dry twig, and they take advantage of 

 this to deceive their enemies, adhering often for hours to one spot by their pro-legs, with the 

 remainder of the body stretched out in a straight line. One species, the European Fidonia 

 Plumistaria, is distinguished by curious feathery antenn*. 



The caterpillars of these insects arc also very injurious to fruit-trees; those of the Eukopean 

 Magpie Moth, Abraxas yrossulariata, which inhabit gooseberry bushes, often strip them entirely 

 of their foliage. 



The American Canker-Worm Moth, Anisopteryx pometaria, belongs to this abundant and 

 prolific tribe. The caterpillars are usually hatched from their eggs in the spring ; when grown 

 they are about an inch long, and of various colors. They attack apple-trees, and sometimes 

 strip whole orchards of their foliage ; they also devour the leaves, buds, and blossoms of plum, 

 cherry, and other fruit-trees, and also of ornamental and shade trees. 



THE FIDONIA PLUMISTAEIA. 



