204 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS 



scarcely leavinf^ a fragment of a leaf, till a great 

 portion of it is completely bare. Some of the magni- 

 ficent beeches in Compton Park, from this cause, 

 appeared with the one-half of their branches leafless 

 and naked, while the other half was untouched. 

 Besides the beech, these caterpillars feed on the oak, 

 the lime, the hazel, the elm and the willow. When 

 newly hatched they may be readily discovered, from 

 their singular manner of marshalling themselves, like 

 a file of soldiers, on a single leaf, only eating it hulf 

 through ; and in their more advanced stage, their 

 gaudy stripes of yellow and black render them very 

 conspicuous on the branches which they have nearly 

 stripped bare. The cuckoo feeds as greedily upon 

 them as they do on leaves, and may be seen early in 



Ravages of the buff-tip caterpillar (^Pygrpra hucephahi). a, the 

 full-grown caterpillar. 6, the moth, c c, a, line of young cater- 

 pillars advancing along a leaf and devouring it half through as 

 they march, d, the eggs. 



