24 THE GENERA OF BRITISH MOTHS. 
Lasiocampa Quercus (the Oak Eggar-Moth, No. 3). This is a very abundant species, and yet, though one 
of our handsomest Moths, neither its habits, nor the curious variations in its markings, which some have thought to 
constitute separate species, have been as yet satisfactorily studied. There is a tolerably common variety of the male 
in which the pale ochre extends to the edge of the wings entirely without a dark border ; and a dark variety of the 
female which has a dark border corresponding to that of the male (No. 8), but these marks are seldom found in 
both the males and females in the same locality. The dark male, moreover, is very common, while the dark female 
is very rare, The common female (No. 4), of nearly uniform ruddy ochre, is the kind found near London ; the dark 
ones being generally those taken in Cormwall or Scotland. It is said that the Caterpillar lives for twelve months 
before it forms its cocoon, but I have never met with it in a state of hybernation. The only way to secure male 
specimens, the flight of which is extremely rapid, is to take a freshly-expanded female to any likely wood, when 
the males will approach so boldly that they may he easily captured. They have been known even to enter the 
coat-pocket in which the box containing the female was deposited. 
Lasiocampa Rubi (the Fox-Math) is nearly as common as the previous species. It is not so large, and the 
wings are of narrower proportion, the general colour being a pinkish ochre, with a broad imperfect band of a darker 
colour running across the anterior wings ; the hind-wings are darker and pinker, and entirely without mark. The 
Caterpillar is hairy, and when young is nearly black, with gold-coloured rings at the joining of the segments ; when 
full grown, it assumes a deep, full rust colour, the joints of the segments being of a velvet black. It forms a spacious, 
somewhat erescent-formed, and semi-transparent cocoon, in which the chrysalis has the power of moving from one 
end to the other. The male Moth is smaller than the female, and rather more warmly coloured. 
Lasiocampa Trifolié (the Grass-Eggar) is still smaller than the Fox-Moth, being about two inches in the full 
expanse of the wings, while the Fox-Moth attains two inches and a-half, and the female of the Oak-Eggar more 
than three inches. The ground colour of the wings of the Grass-Eggar is a rusty grey, with a narrow waved band 
of light straw-colour running across the wings somewhat beyond the centre. Within this band the general tone is 
rather darker, and near the centre is a kidney-shaped white spot bordered with black. The waved straw-coloured 
band frequently extends across the hind-wings in the male, but seldom in those of the female. The Caterpillar is 
generally found in the early summer months feeding on trefoil and other herbaceous plants. It is considered a 
sea-coast species, but is found in some places in the New Forest. It is hairy, like those of the other species, and 
of a dull brown, the joints of the segments being black, and ‘speckled with dots of bluish-white. 
The genus Trichiura. This genus is distinguished from Lasiocampa by the smaller size of the insects, and 
their shorter wings ; also by their short straight antenne, pectinated in the males, and ciliated in the females. In 
the female the tail is furnished with a dense mass of wool, from which peculiarity the generic name has been formed 
from two Greek words. The female uses this wool to clothe and protect her eggs, which she deposits in rows on 
the bark of trees. The Caterpillars are much less hairy than those of the genus Lasiocampa. There is only one 
British species in this genus. 
Trichiura Crategi (No. 6) has heen popularly called the Small Oak-Eggar, from the nature of the cocoon 
formed by the Caterpillar, which much resembles, on a smaller scale, that of the Oak Eggar-Moth ; but the larve 
feed in preference on the hawthorn, from which the specific name is derived. The female is generally of a darkish- 
brown colour, but a pale variety occurs marked like the male. The Caterpillar (No. 7) is found in May, and the 
Moth appears in September. It is rather rare. 
The genus Pecilocampa is distinguished by semi-transparent wings, and by the antenna of the males, the 
bipectinations of which are nearly of the same width to the tip, while those of the female are simple. The Cater- 
pillars are but slightly hairy, and rather depressed, and they form a compact and somewhat oval silky cocoon under 
ground. There is but a single British species. 
Pecilocampa Populi (the December-Moth, No. 8) does not appear till the end of November or December, as 
its popular name implies, when it forms, with other winter Moths, as Mr. Haworth remarks, an essential part of the 
food of some of our soft-billed birds. The Caterpillar is of an ashy tone, mottled with markings of deep ochre, 
getting darker on the back. There is a dark grey band on each side, spotted with dots of white, and two red spots 
in each segment ; and there are two larger red marks on the second segment. It is found feeding on the Poplar 
and other trees in June ; at a later season it may be found in the interstices of the bark. 
