MOTH. 
‘22S 
be penetrated by the frost, and too strong to be 
successfully attacked by birds, &c. it requires even 
a very sharp knife, assisted by a strong hand, to 
force it open. Tlie chrysalis is thick, short, and 
black, and in the month of May or June, accord- 
ing to the warmth or coolness of the season, gives 
birth to the Moth, which, immediately on emerg- 
ing from the upper part of the chrysalis, discharges 
a quantity of fluid sufficient to soften effectually 
the walls of its prison, and effect a ready escape. 
This moth, from its unusually downy appearance, 
has obtained the popular title of the Puss Moth. 
Phalcena fuscicauda or the Brown-Tail Moth is 
remarkable for the ravages which its caterpillar 
commits, by destroying the foliage of trees and 
hedges, and reducing them to a perfectly bare ap- 
pearance. The moth itself is about a third part 
less than that of a Silkworm, and is of a fine satiny 
white, except the hinder part of the body, which 
is of a deep brown. The caterpillar is brown, with 
ferruginous hairs, a row of white spots along each 
side, and two red spots on the lower part of the 
back: it is of a gregarious nature, vast numbers 
residing together under one common web: they 
are hatched early in autumn, from eggs laid by 
the parent moths and immediately form for 
themselves a small web, and begin feeding on the 
foliage of the tree or shrub on which they were 
placed: they marshal themselves with great regu- 
* See Curtis’s History of the Brown-Tail Moth, Lond, 
1783, 4to. 
