ON ENTOMOLOGY. 17 



from a quarter of an inch to an inch in length, arid usually about the 

 breadth of an oat straw. That they are the colour of a withered leaf is 

 not surprising, for they are actually composed of a piece of leaf, not 

 however cut out from the whole thickness ; but artfully separated from 

 the upper layer, as a person might separate one of the leaves of paper 

 from a sheet of pasteboard. 



SPHINX LIGUSTRI (Privet Hawk Moth.) This is one of the largest 

 species of Lepidopterous insects, it appears at the end of June and be- 

 ginning of July. It flies for the most part early in the morning or late 

 in the evening. It changes into a pupa sometimes under leaves, but 

 mostly in the earth. It flies with great rapidity and makes a noise with its 

 wings. The Caterpillar feeds on the privet, lilac, ash, alder, and willow. 

 It goes into the Chrysalis in August, and the Moth appears the follow- 

 ing June. 



The BUFF TIP (Pygcera Bucephala.) In 1826 Colonies of the Cater- 

 pillar of this Moth were in some parts of the country very abundant. 

 They were remarked particularly at Harrow on the Hill and at Comp- 

 ton Basset, in Wiltshire. From their feeding in company, they strip a 

 tree, branch after branch ; scarcely leaving the fragment of a leaf, till 

 a great portion of it is completely bare. Some of the magnificent beeches 

 in Cornpton Park, from this cause appeared with the one half of their 

 branches leafless and naked, while the other half was untouched. 

 Besides the beech these Caterpillars feed on the oak, the lime, the hazel, 

 the elm, and the willow. When newly hatched they may readily be 

 discovered, from their singular manner of marshalling themselves, like 

 a file of soldiers, on a single leaf, only eating it half through ; and in 

 their more advanced stage, their gaudy stripes of yellow and black, 

 make them very conspicuous on the branches which they have nearly 

 stripped bare. The Cuckoo feeds as greedily upon them, us they do on 

 leaves, and may be seen early in the morning perched in the midst of 

 their colonies, and devouring them by dozens. 



The EMPEROR MOTH is no less worthy of onr attention, with respect 

 to the ingenuity of its architecture than the beauty of its colours, and 

 has consequently attracted the attention of every Entomologist. The 

 Caterpillar feeds on fruit trees and on the willow, and spins a cocoon 

 in the form of a Florence flask, of strong silk, so thickly woven that it 

 appears almost like damask or leather. It differs from most other cocoons 

 in not being closed at the upper or smaller end, which terminates in a 

 narrow circular aperture, formed by the convergence of little bundles 

 of silk gummed together, and almost as elastic as whalebone. In con- 

 sequence of all these terminating in needle-shaped points, the entrance 

 of depredators is guarded against, upon the principle which prevents 

 the escape of a mouse from a wire-trap. The insect, however, not con- 

 tented with this protection, constructs another in form of a canopy or 

 dome within the external aperture, so as effectually to shield the Chry- 

 salis from danger. The cocoon of the Emperor Moth, though thus in 



c 



