LEPIDOPTERA. 



83 



on various trees — willows, oak, elms, &c., and as the 

 larva does not change into a pupa for four years, it is 

 capable of doing great damage. The moth is a large 

 insect, three inches across the wings, with broad pale 

 brown wings, elegantly marked with wavy lines. The 

 Puss moth {Cerura vinula), derives its name from the soft 

 texture of the scales, reminding one of some smooth tabby 

 cat, is tolerably common, and very beautifully marked 

 with delicate pencil! ings. The larva is a strange look- 

 ing creature, with 

 a forked tail ; it 

 is dark green, and 

 has a hump on the 

 fourth segment. It 

 feeds on willows and 

 poplars, and forms 

 an oval cocoon, in 

 which it changes to 

 a chrysalis, and ap- 

 pears in the spring. 

 A still more remark- ^^""^"^ -^ "^ ^"^ lobster-moth {stauropus fagi). 

 able form of larva is that of the Lobster-moth (Stauropus), 

 which carries its two-forked tail elevated somewhat 

 in the same way as a lobster elevates a claw. It 

 feeds on beech, oak, and birch. There is only one 

 species, the S. fagi, and this is scarce. The Buff-tips 

 {Pygoera bucephala) are very common and handsome 

 little moths. They derive their name from the presence 

 of a large buff patch at the tip of each wing. As this 

 moth lies among the fallen leaves on the ground, it 

 is scarcely distinguishable from a broken stick. The 

 Tussocks are very beautifully coloured moths. They 



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