190 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
% 
fringed wings expanding only a fifth of an inch. Its fore 
wings are of a light slate gray color on their inner half, and 
beyond bright orange, enclosing two white bands, one situ¬ 
ated on the front edge, and the other arising from the inner 
edge, both nearly meeting in the middle of the wing, and 
edged externally with black. There is a very conspicuous 
square black spot near the fringe, in which is a long pencil 
of black hairs. Such startling contrasts of yellow and 
black are seldom worn by these diminutive moths, but na¬ 
ture never outrages our notions of good taste, and these 
colors are blended in an harmonious and attractive way. It 
is doubtful whether these little sac bearers ever do any 
mischief to the trees, and they are more interesting than 
injurious. The moth, caterpillar and case are figured on the 
frontispiece of the “Guide to the Study of Insects.” 
The Apple Aphis (Fig. 141, natural size and enlarged).— 
The prick of a plant louse and loss of a drop or two of sap 
pig. hi. 
is of little moment to an apple tree ; so is the loss of a drop 
of vmter to a pond. But multiply the number of lost drops 
and the pond may dry up and the tree wither and die. The 
vast numbers- of Aphides, often seen clustering two to three 
deep on the green shoots of a favorite tree in the orchard, is 
a lamentable spectacle. The work to be done by these in¬ 
sects is such as, unfortunately for the gardener, to require 
vast numbers. Every gap opened in their ranks, by the as- 
30 
