THE BOMBYCINA. 121 



upon the roots of hops, nettles, and burdocks, being common all 

 over Europe, and even among the hilly districts. 



Australia, however, is the land where the Hcpialidcs flourish. 

 One of them has a caterpillar which may really be called enormous 

 in size ; it lives within the trunks of the beef-wood trees, and 

 although it is a flabby, flat, and white-looking grub, it is by no 

 means despised as a luxury by the natives. The Australians eat 

 the caterpillars uncooked, and peel and squeeze them first of all, 

 just as we do a fig or a peach. 



The Goat Moth {Cossiis ligniperdd) is a well-known insect, with 

 a short body and large and broad wings of a pale brownish-white 

 colour, marked with short wavy lines. The caterpillar of this 

 insect is flesh or wine coloured, and has a few hairs upon it ; and 

 a faint and disagreable smell is evolved from it, which is left 

 behind upon the wood over which it has recently crawled. This 

 larva gnaws the old trunks of willows and elms, and by excavating 

 large galleries in the trees, it often destroys some of the largest 

 and finest. It is admirably adapted for this sort of life, and the 

 upper lip is not notched ; moreover, the jaws are strongly toothed. 

 The simple lip and the dentated jaws enable the larva to gnaw 

 away at the wood, which it does not want to hold like a leaf The 

 membranous legs of the larva are short, and are furnished with a 

 ring of hooks, so as to allow it to move readily in the long galleries. 



When fully grown the caterpillar is nearly three inches in 

 length, and is as thick as a man's finger ; this size is only attained 

 after at least three years' gnawing and tunneling under the bark 

 of the trees it injures. It makes a cocoon of the gnawings of wood, 

 which it fastens together with a viscous secretion, and then all is 

 lined with soft silk. This case is so placed that the end corres- 

 ponding to the head of the chrysalis (so writes Dr. Baird) is turned 

 towards a hole which the caterpillar has had the precaution to 

 form beforehand in the bark of the tree on that side from which 

 it is about to escape. This hole remains closed outside, but the 

 partition is so thin that the slightest effort can break it and let 

 the prisoner free. The chrysalis itself bursts this slight partition 

 and escapes about half way through before breaking its own bonds 

 and assuming the perfect form. Some of the moths measure at 

 least three inches across the wines. 



