24 GOAT MOTH. 



reus transverse bands. The hind-wings are the 

 eame, but more faintly coloured. The thorax 

 is brown, tinged with yellow ; the abdomen, 

 which is large, the same, with a longitudinal 

 yellow band along its full extent. The other 

 plumage is remarkably soft and woolly. 



The larva is, when full-grown, very large, 

 smooth, and of a mahogany-red colour. It re- 

 mains in the larval state for three years, con- 

 structing in the winter of each year a cocoon 

 from the chips of gnawed wood. These cocoons 

 vary in size with the dimensions of the insect, 

 and I have before me a series of three cocoons 

 made by the same larva, that I was fortunate 

 enough to procure from a willow-tree in Kent. 



The wiUow is the favourite tree of the Goat 

 Moth, though the insect does attack the poplar, 

 the ash, and the elm. A figure of a half-grown 

 Goat Moth larva is given in the illustration marked 

 F, fig. 3, page 16. 



The Goat Moth is the only English represen. 

 tative of the genus. By some naturalists tha 

 caterpillar is thought to be the " cossus " which, 

 when cooked, was a favourite dish with Roman 

 epicures in the time of the Caesars. 



Our next insect is the curious Ghost Moth 



