THE DARK TUSSOCK. 97 



of the cocoon ; the female lays her pale brownish eggs, which 

 are minutely pitted and have a darker ring below the sunken 

 top, on the outside of the cocoon, and there they remain through 

 the winter. 



Generally distributed throughout the United Kingdom, but 

 not so common in Ireland as in England and Scotland. It is 

 quite a Cockney insect, and is found in almost every part of the 

 Metropolis where there are a few trees. Occurs practically 

 over the whole of Europe, and in North-east Asia Minor, 

 Armenia, Siberia, Amurland, and North America. 



The Dark .Tussock {Dasychira fascd'md). 



The figures of the sexes of this species on Plate 40 represent 

 the dark grey form. Sometimes the forewings are whitish grey 

 and occasionally slaty grey ; the cross lines may be stronger or 

 fainter, and in some specimens are nearly absent ; the yellowish 

 colour usually seen on the cross lines may be missing, or, on 

 the other hand, other parts of the wings may be stippled with 

 yellowish. Laying her eggs in batches, the female carefully 

 covers them with dark brown hairs from the tuft at the end of 

 her body. 



The caterpillar (Plate 41, Fig. 4) is blackish, with star-like 

 tufts of hairs, yellow, mixed with longer blackish ones towards 

 the head and tail, brownish grey on the middle portion ; a 

 brush of black hairs on rings four, five, and eleven, and of white 

 hairs on six, seven, and eight. Head black. When full grown 

 (Plate 42, Fig. 3) the hairs of the body are greyish, and those of 

 the brushes on the back are black flanked with white. When 

 disturbed it rolls in a ring. It feeds on hawthorn, and various 

 species of Salix% also on broom and ling. It hibernates when 

 still small, in a silken cocoon- like envelope which it spins in the 

 fork of a branch, or among the twigs of a bush ; growth is 

 completed in April or May, and the winged state attained in 



H 



