HEPIALlDiE. — COSSUS. 9 



London, in July last." — T. Marshall, Esq. " Epping."— jtfr. 

 Doiihleday. " Bottisliam, and near Cambridge, female apparently 

 not very rare."" — Rev. L. Jenyns. " Kennington." — ifr. Davis. 



Genus XXXIII. — Cossus, Fahrlcius. 



Antennae as long as the thorax, setaceous, furnished on their inner edge with a 

 single series of short, transverse, obtuse teeth : palpi two, distinct, cylindric, 

 thickly clothed with scales, three-jointed : wings entire, anterior larger than 

 the posterior. Head small, with a pilose crown : thorax stout, scaly : abdomen 

 robust, elongate : tibia; with spurs. Larva residing in the trunks of trees, 

 lignivorous : pupa enclosed in a case composed of rotten wood and gluten. 



Cossus differs from Hepialus by the elongated antennae, robust 

 body, and inequality of tlie wings; and by the presence of distinct, 

 somewhat elongated palpi : from Zeuzera it may be known by the 

 antennae, which in the latter genus are not serrated. 



One indigenous species only has been detected, the history of 

 which has been most admirably detailed by De Geer and Lyonet; the 

 latter author having published an entire volume, containing the de- 

 scription of the larvae alone, and collected sufficient materials to fill 

 another with those of the pupa and imago ; the former being ac- 

 companied by most accurately-detailed anatomical plates ; and the 

 publication of the latter being, I believe, shortly about to take place, 

 with similar embellishments. 



Sp. 1. ligniperda. AUs albo-cinereis, fusco-nebulosis, strigis transversis atris, 

 thora^e exalbido postice fascia atrd, ahdomine annulis albis. (Exp. alar. $ 2 

 unc. 10 lin. — 3 unc. 3 lin. : ? 3 unc. 6 — 9 lin.) 



Co. ligniperda. Fabr ictus.— Curtis, ii. pi. 60. — Steph. Catal. No. 6951. 



Anterior wings clouded with whitish-cinereous and brown, with numerous 

 transverse irregular black streaks and reticulations, varying considerably in 

 different specimens; posterior fuscous, with obscure reticulated streaks to- 

 wards the hinder margin : head dusky-brown : anterior margin of the thorax 

 pale ochraceous, the following deep fuscous, then whitish, with a posterior, 

 transverse, black fascia ; abdomen brown, with the margins of the segments 

 whitish-grey. 



Caterpillar dull-yeUow or rufescent, with large subquadrate chestnut-red shining 

 patches on the back, and two triangular black spots behind the head, the 

 latter entirely black : it feeds upon oaks, wiUows, aspens, and poplars, and is 

 very destructive; it is three years in attaining perfection, and may conse- 

 quently be obtained at any period : in the autumn, and occasionally in May, 

 the larvae may be found while searching for a convenient spot to change to 

 pupa, which it does in a case composed of pieces of wood, which it unites 



