44 
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
fragile that the greatest care is necessary in handling it. The larva 
is said to feed on the tender leaves of the convolvulus; but I have 
never seen it and know nothing of its habits. The moth has an ex¬ 
panse of wing of about seven-eighths of an inch in a good-sized speci¬ 
men, but is often smaller. The upper wings are two-lobed or 
plumed, and the hind wings three. The insect is often a pure 
silvery white. Sometimes, however, its wings are sprinkled with a 
few gray scales. The legs of the moth are so long, and it stands so 
high when at rest, that it bears a slight resemblance to a crane fly, 
and would hardly be thought to be a moth at all by the novice. 
We have a number of species belonging to this family but this is 
one of the largest and most easily recognized. 
Alucita hexadactyla. 
The six-plumed moth (Alucita hexadactyla ) is a common Amer¬ 
ican species, being also found in Europe. Its expanse of wing is 
about half an inch, and each wing is six-plumed, being yellowish- 
gray in color with brown markings, and a black dot at the end of 
each feather or lobe. The caterpillar feeds on the flowers of the 
honeysuckle, is of a reddish-salmon color, and, unlike most of the 
other species of this group, spins a silken cocoon. The moth is said 
to hibernate during the winter. 
TINEID2E. 
The Tineidce are mostly very small moths, and the number of 
species belonging to the group is very large. Many of these insects 
are gayly, some magnificently, colored; but a microscope is needed 
to see their beauty. Their wings are narrow and pointed, and are 
fringed with long delicate hairs. The larvae of these moths are 
minute creatures ; and many of them are leaf miners, so called 
because they burrow in the leaves just below the surface, and make 
long and crooked passages widening as they advance. Some species 
bore in plant stems, some attack grain stored in houses, some mine in 
the roots of plants, some few produce galls, and some make sad 
havoc in our houses among woollen goods or feathers, if left where 
they can procure access to them. 
