248 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



also attacks various trees, such as oak, elm, birch, sallow, etc. When fully grown 

 they are about an inch and a half long, of a slaty-blue ground colour, with a white 

 stripe down the middle of the back, bordered by black through which runs a reddish 

 line, and there are black spots on head and tail. It is thinly clad with pale brown 

 hairs, which are more abundant along the sides. It appears to have been this 

 ornamentation which led to the caterpillar being stigmatized as the lackey. The 

 caterpillar stage extends from April to June, when it constructs a double cocoon of 

 oval shape, whereof the inner part is more closely woven than the outer, and coated 

 with the oxalate of calcium solution referred to previously. The black-brown 

 chrysalis is slightly downy. 



A noticeable trait of these caterpillars is their habit of living and feeding in 

 companies until they are nearly full-grown. They spin a common tent, enclosing 

 twigs and leaves, under which they feed, coming out upon the exterior for rest and 

 for shedding their outgrown skins. \\'hen the food beneath it is exhausted, they 



remove in company to another branch 

 and build a new and larger tent. 

 This habit has led in the United 

 States — where they are very in- 

 jurious — to their being known as 

 tent-worms. 



A finer moth in point of size, 

 though of somewhat similar colora- 

 tion, is the fox-moth,^ of which 

 the males may be seen in numbers 

 dashing about over the heath on 

 tine afternoons in May and June. 

 They are then engaged in seeking 

 after the less active and heavier 

 females, who restrict their flight to 

 the hours of darkness. The grey- 

 brown eggs are laid in batches on 

 heather and bramble, and hatch 

 about the beginning of July. The caterpillars, which are about two and a half inches 

 long, are black, but except between the rings this colour is hidden by a dense ]ule of 

 short tawny hairs, above which stand long, brittle, brown hairs. These hairs 

 break off in handling the caterpillar, and if allowed to touch the thinner parts of 

 the skin, such as on the face, they set up a very unpleasant irritation. The\- have 

 been known to cause blindness by getting into the eyes. The cocoon is somewhat 

 tubular in shape, woven of brown silk mixed with caterpillar liairs, and }-)laced 

 end up among grass or moss. 



It is noteworthy that in this family the l^nglisli names, though now ai)plied to 

 the moths, were in most cases bestowed upon the caterpillars. Thus the egger was 

 the caterpillar that made egg-like cocoons ; the lackey because of the caterpillar's 

 variegated colouring ; the fox from some resemblance between the caterpillar and 

 a fox's brush. Two others in the same category are the drinker and tli(> lappet. The 



1 Macrothylacia rubi. 



Photos by] 



Cocoon of Egger-Moth. 



[H. Mam, F.E.S. 



The first of the two photographs shows the exterior of the cocoon ; 

 and in the second, half of the cocoon has been cut away to show the 

 chrysalis within. Natural size. 



