ON SOME LEPIDOPTEROUS IjA.RYM 81 



such unsavoury food as the larva of the malodorous Goat 

 Moth. The caterpillar of the Wood Leopard Moth also 

 infests many of our trees, and is believed to have caused the 

 death of numerous valuable elm?, not to mention fruit-trees. 

 The moth is always uncommon, but the larva at times 

 abounds, and feeds for two or three years within the wood. 

 Happily the wood-peckers seem to know how to reach these 

 destructive creatures and keep them within bounds. Here 

 the larva of the common yellow underwing moth may be 

 mentioned, considered by Miss Ormerod one of our destruc- 

 tive insects, and the caterpillar is certainly almost omni- 

 vorous, and does great damage to garden produce. 



In striking contrast to the larvse which resemble twigs, 

 or those which spend their lives hidden in the interior of 

 tree-trunks or roots, we now have to notice a considerable 

 group of caterpillars, many of them of large size, belonging 

 to the Bombycina and Bombyciform noctucE which feed 

 quite exposed, often without the least attempt at conceal- 

 ment, yet are well armed against the attacks of bird or 

 lizard, or the small predatory mammals. I refer to those 

 which are protected by a dense covering of hairs or thorns. 

 If we pass along by a hawthorn hedge or a dog-rose bush in 

 May, we often find a red and black larva with grotesque 

 tufts of hair exhibiting itself conspicuously upon the twigs 

 or leaves. This is the larva of the pretty White Gold-tailed 

 Moth, Porthesia auriflua^ and a very handsome creature it 

 is ; but beware how you touch it, for it bears the worst of 

 reputations. It is covered with very brittle hairs, loosely 

 adhering to the skin, and serrated all along their length 

 with sharp barbs, which remind one of the hideous spears 

 we see in museums, used by some of the Polynesian tribes. 

 These hairs, excessively fine, break off at the slightest 

 touch, and entering into the skin cause an intolerable irri- 



