THE GIPSY-MOTH. 



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was not acquainted with it. The apparently forced and strange attitude in which this cater- 

 pillar is represented is that which it assumes when at rest. The second and third pair of legs 

 are much elongated. The moth itself displays no very notable points of structure except the 

 raised tufts on the disc of the fore wings. 



The well-known TIGER-MOTH (Arctia caja), with its red and brown coloring, is a well- 

 known example of this family, and its caterpillar is no less familiar under the name of Woolly 

 Bear. This is a very harmless creature, feeding almost wholly on the dead nettle, but some 

 of its allies are terrible plagues to the agriculturist, or even to the country at large, having 

 been known to inflict serious damage to crops, and in some parts of Germany even to strip 

 whole forests of their foliage. 



One of these insects, called the VAPORER-MOTH (Orgy la antiqua), is especially remarkable 

 for the strange contrast between the sexes, the male being a wide-winged moth of the ordinary 

 kind, and the female a fat grub-like creature with hardly a vestige of wing, and scarcely 



GIPSY-MOTH. Bypogymna dupar. 



stirring from the spot on which it is placed. The well-known PUSS-MOTH (Cerura mnula), 

 so called because its markings bear some resemblance to those of a tabby cat, belongs to this 

 family. The caterpillar of this moth is a handsomely colored creature, remarkable for the 

 odd, sphinx-like attitude which it assumes when at rest, the pink St. Andrew's cross which is 

 drawn over the back, and the forked appendage at the extremity of the body, from which 

 a pair of long and delicate filaments can be thrust or withdrawn at pleasure. This caterpillar 

 constructs a cocoon of wonderful strength, composed of bits of wood cemented together, 

 and of such hardness that a penknife cannot penetrate it without risk of being snapped in the 

 attempt. 



As may be seen by reference to the engraving, the GIPSY-MOTH differs much in its coloring, 

 according to the sex, the male being blackish-brown and the female grayish-white. The 

 upper wings of both sexes are marked with four waved transverse bands of moderately light 

 brown, and a dark brown mark near the middle of the front edge like the letter V, inside of 

 which is a blackish spot. On the European Continent this moth is very abundant, and the 

 caterpillar is often extremely injurious to the trees. 



