152 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



reasons, I felt none ; and asked my friend why 

 he selected a species of vine for shelter, orna- 

 ment, and use, which produced no foliage. He 

 rebuked my ignorance pretty sharply, and told 

 me that a few weeks before, the tree was cov- 

 ered with leaves ; but, for some inexplicable rea- 

 son, they liad all disappeared — eaten, he guessed, 

 by something. He guessed right. There were 

 at least a hundred of the larva of A. octomacu- 

 lata, the rear guard of a mighty host, wander- 

 ing about the branches, apparently for the par- 

 pose of making snre that no little particle of a 

 leaf was left undevoured. Pretty little things 

 they weie, with harmoniously blended colors of 

 black, vellow and blue, but so terribly destruc- 

 tive ! I had the curiosity to walk through all 

 the streets to the east of Third avenue, as low 

 as Twenty-third street, and every vine was in 

 the same predicament. If grape leaves, instead 

 of fig leaves, had been in request for making 

 aprons, and one Alypia had been in existence 

 at the time, I doubt if in the whole Garden of 

 Eden enough material would have been found 

 to make a garment of decent size. The destruc- 

 tion of the crop for 1868 was complete. 



" This was bad. But it was not half so bad 

 as the helpless ignorance which possessed nearly 

 all of the unfortunate owners of vines. Scarcely 

 one that I conversed with had the remotest idea 

 of the cause of the disaster, and when I explained 

 that it was the caterpillar of a beautiful little 

 black moth, with eight whitish yellow spots on 

 its wings, which had eaten up the foliage, my 

 assertion was received witSt such a smile of 

 incredulity, as convinced me that there is no 

 use in trying to humbug such vei-y sharp fellows 

 as are the New York grape-growers. 



" It is a little remarkable, however, that the 

 destruction was confined to the eastei-n part of 

 the city. I saw several luxuriant vines on the 

 western side; and across the river at Hoboken, 

 and at Hudson City, not a trace of A. octoma- 

 culata was discernible. 



" The insect, then, is very local in its habits, 

 and it is a day-flyer; and, from these facts, I 

 infer that its ravages may be very materially 

 checked. A little poisoned molasses, exposed 

 in the )ieighborhood of the vine, would operate 

 on the perfect insect; while a good syringing 

 with soft soap and water, would bring down 

 the caterpillars effectually." 



This Beautiful "\Voox> Nymph — (JSudryas 

 yrata, Fabr.)— Here is another moth (Fig". lOl), 



■--» .v.~- \V\s. 101 ] 



marked, as iu the figure, with rusty-brown, the 

 band on the outer margin being shaded on the 

 inner side with olive-green, and marked towards 

 the edge with a slender wavy white line: under 

 surface yellow, with two dusky spots near the 

 middle. The hind wings are nankin-yellow, 

 with a deep brown border, which does not 

 extend to the outer angle, and which also con- 

 tains a wavy white line: under surface yellow, 

 with a single black spot. 



Surely these two moths are as unlike in general 

 appearance as two moths well can be; and yet 

 their caterpillars bear such a close resemblance 

 to each other, and both feed upon the Grape- 

 vine. The larva of the Beautiful Wood Nymph 

 is, in fact, so very similar to that of the Eight- 

 spotted Forester, that it is entirely unnecessary 

 to figui-e it. It differs more especially from 

 that species by invariably lacking the white 

 patches along the sides ; the hairs arising from 

 the black spots are less conspicuous, while the 

 hump on the eleventh segment is somewhat 

 more prominent. Th'i light parts of the body 

 have really a slight bluish tint, and in specimens 

 which we have found, we have only noticed six 

 transverse black stripes to each segment. This 

 larva, when at rest, depresses tlte head and raises 

 the third and fourth segments, Sphinx-fashion. 

 It is found on the vines in this latitude as early 

 as May and as late as September, and it devours 

 all portions of the leaf, even to the midrid. It 

 descends to the ground, and, without making 

 any cocoon, transforms to a chrysalis, which is 

 dark colored, rough, with the tip of the abdomen 

 obtusely conical, ending iu four tubercles, the 

 Ijair above, long and truncate, those below broad 

 and short (Packard). Some of them give out 

 the moth the same summer, but most of them 

 pass the winter and do not issue as moths till 

 the following spring. 



^ The Pearl Wood Nymph — {Eudryas unio, 

 Hubner) . — This is another pretty little moth, so 



[Fig. 102.] 



^^ 



Colors— Cream, brown and olive-green, 

 surpassing iu real beauty, though not in high 

 contrast, the species just descril ctl. The front 

 wings are milk-white, broadly bordered and 



Colors— (tt and b) pale-blue, black and orange. 



closely allied to, and so much resembling the 

 preceding species, that it is not necessary to 

 produce its picture. It is a smaller species, and 

 difi"ers from the Beautiful Wood Nymph in hav- 

 ing the outer border of the front wings paler 

 and of a tawny color, with the inner edge wavy 

 instead of straight; and in that of the hind 



