PUSS-MOTH. ] 9 1 



tail is kept erect at the other extremity. Its 

 threatening aspect has sometimes inspired most 

 ^udicrous notions of its power of doing mischief, as 

 in the instance quoted by Dr. Shaw from a country 

 newspaper, where it is described as a monster with 

 a head like a lion, jaws like a shark, a horn like a 

 unicorn, and two tremendous stings in its tail. It 

 is ornamented with very beautiful colours, which, 

 however, vary considerably according to the age of 

 the individual. The description of Isaac Walton is 

 pretty nearly accurate : " The very colours of ca- 

 terpillars," says he, " as one has observed, are 

 elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a taste of the 

 rest, describe one of them ; which I will, some 

 time the next month, shew you feeding on a willow 

 tree ; and you shall find him punctually to answer 

 this very description : his lips and mouth somewhat 

 yellow ; his eyes black as jet ; his forehead purple ; 

 his feet and hinder parts green ; his tail two-forked 

 and black ; the whole body stained with a kind of 

 red spots, which run along the neck and shoulder- 

 blade, not unlike the form of St. Andrew's cross, or 

 the letter X made thus crosswise, and a white line 

 drawn down his back to his tail ; all which add 

 much beauty to his whole body. And if is to me 

 observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives 

 over to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered 

 over with a strange shell or crust, called an aurelia ; 

 and so lives a kind of dead life without eating all 

 the winter. And as others of several kinds turn to 

 be several kinds of flies and vermin the spring 



