464 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



exitinsa, peach- 

 tree borer. 



Fig. 585. — Larva of rhlegethontius Carolina. 



fringes steel-blue, the fore wings having a band across them beyond the middle. The 

 females have the fore wings opaque, and of the same color as the body. The dull , 

 yellow, smooth, oval eggs are deposited on the bai'k of peach trees, 

 near the surface of the ground. The caterpillars, when hatching, work 

 downward in the bark of the root; and, when the tree is badly in- 

 fested, the soft sap wood is also more or less eaten. They pass the 

 winter in this state, completing their development the next spring, 

 and the perfect insects emerge in the summer. 



^geria pictipes attacks the trunks of plum trees, and is similar to 

 the las1>named species in its habits. The imported currant-borer, 

 .jiEgeria tipuliformis, is a common species both in Europe and this country, and is 

 quite injurious to currant and gooseberry bushes. 



The Sphinx moths (Sphingid^) take their name from the curious habit which 

 their caterpillars have of raising the anterior segments of their bodies, and remaining 

 motionless in this position for some time, 

 thus bearing a fancied resemblance to the 

 fabled Sphinx. They are sometimes called 

 the hawk moths, because of the strength 

 and velocity of their flight; and they are 

 also called humming-bird moths, because 

 they poise on the wing before the flowers, 

 while drawing up the nectar, after the man- 

 ner of humming-birds. They have stout bodies, and long, narrow wings, the anterior 

 ones being much longei', and generally more pointed, than the posteKor ones, the latter 

 being furnished with a frenulum or bristle. 



One group has the middle of the wings transparent, and on this account are called 

 clear-wings. The head is well developed, the eyes large and hemispherical, but no 

 ocelli are present. The tongue is very short in a few of the sjjecies, in others it is 

 well developed and as long as the body, while in still others it is much longer 

 when uncoiled, and is used to draw nectar from the long tubes of certain species of 

 orchids ; and the peculiar pollen-masses of these plants are often found adhering to the 

 eyes of the moths, and are carried from one plant to another, thus aiding in the cross- 

 fertilization of the plants. The antennae, which are very characteristic in this family, 

 are fusiform or spindle-shaped, the end sometimes being curved into a 

 hook, with a ciliated seta or bristle from the apex. In the males they 

 have two rows of cilia, but are nearly simple in the females. The ab- 

 domen is cylindrical, conical at the end, and the legs are usually long 

 and strong. The fore tarsus has a long single spur (tibial epiphysis) on 

 the inner surface, the middle a tei'minal pair, and the hind tarsus has a 

 pair on the middle and another at the end. 



The eggs of these moths are deposited singly on their food plants. 

 The caterpillars have naked, (iylindrical bodies, sometimes smooth, but 

 frequently more or less granulated over the surface. The majority of 

 them are of some shade of green, with various markings, often oblique 

 bands or stripes along the sides. On the top of the twelfth segment 

 i^^ placed a rigid spine which curves backward, and is called the caudal 

 horn. When this is absent, its place is indicated by a tubercle. When the cater- 

 pillars are mature they descend into the ground where they make rude cocoons 



Fig. 586. — Pupa 

 of tobacco-worm. 



