The larvae of Colocasia, Orgyia, Laria and some of the Arctias 

 (pi. 68) are remarkable for the beautiful tufts of hairs that 

 ornament them : the male caterpillars are much smaller than 

 the female in our genus. 



The males of Orgyia are nearly related to Hypogymiia 

 dispar ; they are very similar in form, and are equally active 

 when alive : the females of both are extremely torpid, and 

 the bodies are dilated by an immense quantity of eggs, which 

 the common Vapourer Moth (O. antiqua) deposits in the most 

 beautiful order; this sex however is distinguished from its 

 congeners by having only appendages or rudiments of wings. 



Both the species inhabit Britain. 

 1. O. gonostigma Linn. — Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 378. — I)on. 9. 

 316. 



The caterpillar feeds on the oak, birch, nut, sallow, bar- 

 berry, rose, and bilberry {Vacci?iiu?n Mi/rtillus, pi. 73.), and is 

 found in May and June, and the moth is produced in August 

 and September. 



It is a rare insect, but the handsome males, which jfly during 

 the day in fine weather, may be captured by taking a bred 

 female to the spot where the caterpillar was found, when the 

 males will assemble to the spot, in the same manner as Lasio- 

 campa Quercus, Satnrnia Pavojiia-minor., and other Bomby- 

 cida3. I have found the caterpillar in Coombe Wood : it is 

 said to inhabit Lewisham, Erith, and Greenhithe, in Kent, 

 and Bagley Wood, Oxfordshire. Mr. J. Standish informs me 

 that Mr. King once bred a female in July, the egg from which 

 hatched in August; they changed to chrysalides, and the moths 

 came out from October to Christmas, tov^^ards which period 

 they gradually became paler. 

 •2. O. antiqua Linn. Faun. Suec. 297- 1120. — Don. 1. 16. 



Male orange-ferruginous, clouded a little with brown : su- 

 perior wings with a dark striga at the base, one before, and 

 another beyond the middle, waved and sinuated, dark on the 

 inside ; a stigma near the disc pale orange in the centre, an 

 indistinct line of long ferruginous marks between the nervures 

 towards the posterior margin, and a white kidney-shaped spot 

 at the posterior angle, surrounded by a suffused margin of 

 dark brown : cilia spotted brown : inferior wings dark orange. 

 Female pale cinereous, clothed with soft short straight hairs, 

 the appendages very pale: eyes and underside of antennae 

 black. 



This moth is very common ; the caterpillars are seen ram- 

 bling over the roses and other plants and trees in our gardens, 

 they feed also on the apple, lime, oak, sallow, black and white 

 thorns, alder, plum, bramble, &c. They are found from 

 April to August; the moths have been observed from July to 

 October ; the males are frequently seen resting on our win- 

 dows, and even flying in the streets of London. 



The Plant is Bcrhcris vulgaris (Berberry). 



