432 INSECTS AT HOME. 



The small cocoons seem never to produce Moths, but are 

 infested by an ichneumon-fly, which, fortunately for us, preys 

 on the Goat Moth caterpillar. Not that the large cocoons are 

 free from this parasite, for, as every one knows who has bred 

 them, the large cocoons frequently disappoint the collector, and 

 produce ichneumons instead of Moths. It is a curious fact 

 that the ichneumon itself (^Lampronota setosa) possesses an 

 odour similar to that of the larva in which it lays its eggs. 



In the 'Entomologist' for August 1868, Miss E.Newman 

 mentions that she possesses a Groat Moth cocoon which was 

 made with earth instead of wood-chips, and was discovered in 

 April, in the middle of an arable field. After being removed 

 from the cocoon and placed in a breeding-cage, the larva again 

 burrowed into the earth, and emerged at the end of June, 

 perfect in every respect, but rather smaller than the usual size. 



After the larva has lain in its cocoon for some time, it 

 discharges from its mouth a fluid which is contained in two 

 large sacs within the body, and softens the silk so that it can 

 be easily broken. It then throws off the caterpillar skin and 

 becomes a chrysalis, which is at first white and soft, but 

 afterwards hard and brown. The edges of the segments are 

 furnished with little points directed backwards, and by alter- 

 nately stretching and contracting the abdomen, the pupa forces 

 itself along its larval tunnel until it comes to the end. Just 

 before the final transformation the pupa renews its efforts, and 

 fairly pushes itself through the thin shell of bark that has been 

 allowed to remain by the larva. 



It still continues to push its way on until it has forced itself 

 through the opening, as far as the base of the abdomen. After 

 a while the pupal skin splits, and the Moth emerges slowly, 

 climbing up the bark of the tree, and there clinging while it 

 shakes out its wings. The empty pupa skin remains at the 

 entrance of the tunnel, and towards the middle or end of 

 summer, according to the season, plenty of these empty shells 

 may be found projecting from trees that are infested with the 

 Groat Moth larva. The Moth itself can generally be captured 

 upon the bark of the tree in which it has passed its pupal state. 



The willow is the tree that is usually infested by this insect, 

 and vast damage is often done by it. On the Kentish marshes 

 near my house are numbers of willow-trees, or rather the 



