37 



Fig. 42. 



with both hands. In our own experience we have of tener found the cases empty than occu- 

 pied, but whether this arises from their destruction by birds or other enemies, we have not 

 been able to ascertain— spiders are said to kill many of them. We have never met with 

 or heard of, any parasite attacking this species. 



This insect, we learn from Messrs. Bowles and Provancher, is common about Quebec, 

 where as the grape is not much cultivated, it probably feeds on the wild vines. It is also 

 plentiful throughout Ontario, although nowhere as far as we can learn is it very destructive,, 



No. 5. The Grape-vine Plume. — (Pterophorus periscelidactylus — Fitch.) 



This although an extensive name is applied to quite a small insect. The moths be- 

 longing to this family are called plume moths, from the fact of their having their wings 

 divided into feather like lobes, and the English rendering of the above extremely formi- 

 dable looking scientific name, would be " the Gartered Plume " ; so designated ftom the 

 circumstance of having its hind legs surrounded near the joints, with garter like tufts of 

 brownish scales. 



As soon as the young branches of the grape vine have fairly started, and just about 

 the time when the third bunch of blossom is appearing, this enemy to its .growth appears 

 with it, in the shape of a small whitish hairy caterpillar, fastening the young terminal 

 leaves into a ball shaped mass, and living within the hollow sphere thus formed. The 

 caterpillars are generally found solitary, hence it is probable that the eggs are laid singly. 

 Mr. Riley says " that the very young larva is smooth and nearly destitute of hairs, but 

 after each moult the hairs become more perceptible, and when full grown, appear as at 

 Pig. 42," a. We have not seen the caterpillar while very young, but have been painfully 



exercised in observing its destructive work, when near its 

 maturity. 



It is then about half an inch long and cylindrical in form. 

 Its head is small, of a yellowish green color, with a band 

 of black across the front, just above the mandibles, and a 

 few fine greenish hairs scattered over its surface. The man- 

 dibles are faintly tipped with brown. 



The body above is yellowish green, with transverse 

 rows of dull yellow tubercles, from each of which arises a 

 small tuft of white hairs. There is a line down the back of 

 deeper green, and the body is a little paler between the seg- 

 ments. 



The under surface is somewhat deeper in color than 

 the upper, with a few whitish hairs. The feet are black, 

 tipped with yellowish green — the prolegs which are long and 

 thin, are of a greenish color. 



Sometimes the caterpillar assumes a pinkish hue before 

 entering on its next stage of life, but more commonly it 

 retains its normal color. It may usually be found full 

 grown from the eleventh to the fifteenth of June, but this 

 year they were about two weeks earlier. 



When matured,, it spins a few silken threads on the 

 Colors- (a) White, (6) Light brown, under side of a leaf, or in some other convenient spot, and' 

 {<*) Tawny yellow. having entangled its hind legs firmly in the web of silk, it 



sheds its hairy skin and becomes a chrysalis j which as it escapes from the larval covering 

 hangs itself up by its posterior extremity — entangling the little hooks with which it is 

 furnished, in the same silken fibres as those in which the caterpillar's legs were fastened. 

 How it does this without hands or feet to hold on by, would take too long to explain, but 

 it is a most marvellous feat, performed but once in the creature's life, hence without pre- 

 vious instruction or practice, and scarcely ever with a mishap. 



The chrysalis (Fig. 42, b), is an odd looking little thing about four tenths of an inch 

 long, angular and rugged, and wriggles about very briskly when touched. At first it is 

 of a pale yellowish green, but soon grows darker on the summit of the anterior extremity, 

 and on the more prominent protuberances. The deepening in color is gradual, finally 

 extending over the whole surface, when it becomes reddish brown, sometimes yellowish 



