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FAMILY LIPARIDJE. 

 (Tussock Moths.) 



The caterpillars are thickly clothed with tussocks 

 of hair, which give them a woolly appearance. 

 Children sometimes call them ''woolly bears." 

 Tlie usual colour of the larvae is brown, with mark- 

 ings of either yellow or red or blue. They feed on 

 a variety of plants. We have seen plants of 

 potatoes, etc., reduced to mere stems by numbers 

 of these larva. On one occasion we saw quite an 

 army of them cross the road from one devastated 

 potato patch to the adjoining field. However, most 

 of these caterpillars are solitary in habit. The pupa 

 is enclosed within a loose, bag-like cocoon, and 

 often the hairs from its own body are interwoven. 

 Yfe have seen tliese caterpillars turn and pull out 

 some hairs and work them into the threads of the 

 cocoon. Tlie motli is of medium size, and tlie 

 female is often wingless; she then just crawls out 

 of the cocoon and lays the eggs on the tli reads of it. 

 Types: Varala occllata is liglit yellowish brown 

 marked with black. The larva feeds on grass, and 

 makes a soft yellow cocoon similar to that of a silk- 

 worm but looser, and with hairs from its own body 

 standing out like bristles. The female is wingless. 

 Teara is a genus whose larva? travel about in 

 armies and are hence called ''procession moths." 

 They form "shelters" of leaves sewn together, and 

 tlie army of larva? take shelter within in the day; 

 these bags are often seen in a fork of a branch. 

 They feed at night,- and may proceed in single file 

 or in rows. "We have amused ourselves with turn- 



