440 
LEPIDOPTEEA. 
usual signs that the enemy is at work in the stalks, the spin¬ 
dle-worms should be sought for and killed ; for, if allowed to 
remain undisturbed until they turn to moths, they will make 
their escape, and we shall not be able to prevent them from 
laying their eggs for another brood of these pestilent insects. 
A worm, or caterpillar, something like the spindle-woiin, 
has often been found by farmers in potato-stalks ; and the 
potato-rot has sometimes been ascribed to its depredations. 
On the 9th of July, 1848, one of these caterpillars was 
brought to me in a potato-stalk from Watertown; and on 
the 5th of July, 1851, I found another within the stem of 
the pig-weed, or Clienopodium. These 
caterpillars (Fig. 219) were of a livid 
hue, faintly striped with three whitish 
lines along the back. Their transforma¬ 
tions have not yet been observed. 
The roots of the Columbine are attacked by another cater¬ 
pillar belonging to this family. It burrows into the bottom 
of the stalk and devours the inside of the roots, which it 
injures so much that the ])lant soon dies. One of these 
caterpillars, which was found in July in the roots of a fine 
double Columbine in my garden, was of a whitish color, with 
a few black dots on each of the rings, a brownish head, and 
the top of the first and of the last rings blackish. It grew to 
the length of about one inch and a quarter, turned to a 
chrvsalis on the 19th of August, and came out a moth on 
the 24th of September. The moth closely resembles the 
Grortyna flavago of Europe, but is sufficiently distinct from 
it. It may be called Gortyna Uucostigma^ the white-spot 
Gortyna. The fore wings are tawny yellow, sprinkled with 
purple-brown dots, and with two broad bands and the outer 
hind margin purple-brown ; there is a distinct tawny yellow 
spot on the tip, followed by a row of faint yellowish crescents 
between the brown band and margin ; the ordinary spots are 
yellow, margined with brown, and there is a third oval spot 
of a white color near the round spot. The hind wings are 
