Inclement Weather, Diseases, Etc. 321 



by side. At first they leave a skeleton of the leaf, but as 

 they grow larger, they consume all but the largest veins. 

 They are yellow^ish, semi-transparent, and at full size are .60 

 inch long. The perfect insect is a small moth blue-black, 

 with a bright orange neck. 



The Alypia octo-macukta, oi the Eight-Spotted Forrester, 

 is a light blue caterpillar, 1.25 inch long. In July the worms 

 leave the vine, and spin their cocoons on the ground ; the 

 moth is black, its ghanks orange ; each of the fore-wings has 

 large, yellow spots, the hind-wings have white ones. The 

 width of the insect is i to 1.50 inch. It appears in May. 



Among the Sphinges there are some that attack the vine, and 

 as they are large and voracious, their depredations are to be 

 dreaded. The Philampelus satellita, and the P. Achemon, 

 literally the vine-lovers, the Satellite and Achemon Sphinges, 

 are large, green worms, that feed upon the vine. They may 

 be found after midsummer, before they descend into the 

 ground to become pupse. These caterpillars were very abund- 

 ant in New York last summer (1866), 



A tribe of sphinges is called the ^gerians, from the well- 

 known peach-tree borer, ^geria exitiosa. If this is dreaded 

 by the orchardist, how much more its larger cousin, which in- 

 fests the grape-vine. The ^geria polistieformis is mentioned 

 by Mr. Glover, in the Patent OiEce Report for 1854, p. 80. 

 It is said to be very troublesome in North Carolina, attack- 

 ing all vines except the Scuppernong variety. This insect has 

 attracted very little notice among our western vine-dressers, 

 because, as it works under cover, it has escaped observation, 

 but it is feared that it will increase, and become a serious en- 

 emy. Some specimens of the caterpillar, and the vines it had 

 consumed, were brought to the Cincinnati Horticultural So- 

 ciety by Mr. McWilliams, in 1865, when the natural history 

 of the insect was investigated, and reported on. 



The eggs are laid near the base of the vine stock, and. 



