330 



JOUEKAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( October 8, 1874. 



spnug, which snmmoiis them to preparation for the continn- 

 anee of the sptcies. 



But of the seeming relationship between one species and 

 another, in what we denominate " insect mimicry," we have 

 some curicns instances in the moth tribes. Thus, in the 

 ■' Pnss " (see fig. VO) and the '• Kittens,"' of the genns Dicrannra, 

 the perfect insect looked at from below, as throngh the Ud of 

 a ganze-covered box on which it is resting, reminds us of the 

 head of a white cat in miniature. The caterpillars also when 

 in the dinfv stage of their early life, as they rest on the leaves 

 of the Willow, with their "horns" stretched out horizontally 

 from the extremity of the body, look like black kittens greatly 

 reduced, the similarity being increased by two little points on 

 the head projecting like ears. These disappear at a later stage. ' 

 Beferecce has been made to the Puss Moth iX). vinula) in a 

 former series of papers, as associated with the TViUow tree, but 



Fig. 90. — BIaix pcss kote asd laeta. 



its lesser relatives claim a notice as being occasional visitants 

 to gardfns, pretty, and decidedly non-injurious. The Poplar 

 Kitten fD. bifida) used to occur about London pretty generally 

 some years ago, though now growing scarce; it is, doubtless, 

 still common in many counties of England, though not easy 

 always to find. In gardens the caterpUlar feeds on the Taca- 

 mahac Poplar (Populns balsamif era) , and I have taken it on a 

 dwarf hedge of the black species (P. nigra) in Brompton, which 

 bounded some pleasant gardens now occupied by a row of 

 houses, in which there may be kittens and cats also of a dif- 

 ferent sort. The mother moth usually deposits her eggs by 

 ones, twos, or threes, sometimes in June, although occasionally 

 it may be later. The caterpillars when hatched hold very 

 firmly to the leaves, liking best to attach themselves to the 

 midrib ; nor can these be shaken or beaten from a tree in the 

 way the entomologist finds so efficacious with many kinds that 

 drop at a sudden alarm. I fancy that the caterpUlar of the 

 Poplar Kitten most be in its habits not unlike the fat boy de- 

 picted by Dickens, with so shocking a propensity to sleep at 

 unseascriable times, fcr Mr. Sewman remarks that he has ob- 

 served this caterpillar after it has done eating still continue 

 clas pirg the edge of the leaf in a torpid attitude. I am not 

 sure, however, that Mr. Newman is right in assuming that it 

 only feeds at night ; at least, such is not the case in confine- 

 ment. Its favourite position when not eating is the " puss 

 attittide," with the head and the hinder segments raised. The 

 head and face are brown, marked with delicate waved lines, 

 the body of a greyifh brown, also marbled, and edped with 

 bright yellow; beneath, the caterpillar is of a fine apple green 

 with purplish dots, this colour extending up the fifth segment 

 till it touches a ridge which is situated on that part of the 



back. The appendages or tubes at the anus (from the interior 

 of which the caterpillar can at its wUl project slender filaments) 

 are green, ringed with brown. Having arrived at maturity, 

 the next thing one of these caterpillars requires is an abode for 

 the winter. Accordingly, quitting the leaves it crawls to the 

 trunk of some tree, and selecting a suitable spot between 

 2 and 4 feet from the ground, it forms a cocoon of strong 

 glutinous silk with which it mingles fragments of the bark. 

 This is ingeniously contrived so as to resemble the bark in 

 which it is embedded, and only the eye of an expert can detect 

 it. In a few weeks after it is finished, it is so hard that some 

 force is required to penetrate the exterior with a knife. 



The moth, as it is presumed, though its history is not so 

 well known as that of the familiar D. vinula, is furnished with 

 a solvent fluid, by means of which it dissolves away the wall of 

 the cocoon when the time of emergence arrives. It is a ftirry- 



Icoking creature, measuring 

 about 2 inches across the ex- 

 panded wings. These are of 

 a pale grey, with a broad band 

 of dark grey edged with ablack 

 and yellow line ; beyond this 

 are several waved black lines, 

 and numerous black spots of 

 small size are sprinkled over 

 the wings. The grey body is 

 surrounded by dingy bands. 

 A slight mention should be 

 made of the closely-connected 

 species called the Sallow Kit- 

 ten (D. furcula), a much rarer 

 insect seemingly, yet which 

 has many localities recorded. 

 In Surrey, not far from Lon- 

 don, I have taken the cater- 

 pillar on Sallows growing in a 

 nursery garden. The perfect 

 insects are so much ahke that 

 the distinctions are not easy 

 to state in words, but if we 

 examine a series of each we 

 then see shades of difference. 

 D. furcula is also a smaller 

 insect than D. bifida. The 

 adult caterpillars are, how- 

 ever, so far dissimilar that 

 there cannot be a doubt about 

 the distinctness of the two 

 species, and in addition to 

 that fact, we have also the 

 one that each keeps to its 

 particular food plant as a rtile. One of the habits of the 

 caterpillar of D. furcula is a "teaser" to the insect-hunter; 

 it is fond of leaving the growing portions of the plant or tree, 

 and settling on some withered leaf or dry twig when not 

 actually in need of food. There is a far greater variety of 

 colour in this caterpillar than in that of D. bifida, which 

 makes it quite a beautiful object. The ground colour is white 

 on the back, and apple green on the sides, the two shades 

 being separated from each other by an irregular purple stripe ; 

 there are also lateral stripes of a deeper green. Besides these 

 markings purple spots are arranged at intervals along the back 

 and sides, some of them having white centres. There are also 

 two orange patches on the seventh and eighth segments. The 

 head is grey bordered with purple, the anal horns purple and 

 white. In July, August, or September, we may find this on 

 the Sallows ; the cocoon made towards the close of the summer 

 is like that of others in the genus, and in it the chrysalis re- 

 mains till Mayor June. We have in Britain one more "Kitten," 

 not a garden species, but it may be named here. This is the 

 Alder Kitten (D. bicuspis), only discovered as yet in a few 

 English counties, and seeming most partial to the " Weald of 

 Sns?ex." The food plant of this is the Alder. 



Two moths, which are the English representatives of the 

 genus Calocampa, resort to our gardens in September and 

 October after dufk, attracted by the yet remaining flowers. 

 I have not noticed them close to the metropolis ; in Hf rtford- 

 shire, especially in the districts about Brcxboume and Ware, 

 which yield an abundance of the marsh plants that are the 

 favourite food of the caterpillar?, they are tolerably common, 

 or wfre a few years ago. Not only do the moths hover over 

 the flower beds, but they resort to Ivy-mantled walls, intent 



