i66 THE TUSSOCK MOTH 



harmonise with his delicate and brilliant markings. 

 His head is a bright coral red, and there are dainty 

 touches and spots of the same colour on his back. 

 All these pretty and attractive patterns are combined 

 on an energetic and voracious little creeper about an 

 inch long, yet we generally admire it with our hands 

 folded behind our backs. Animals and birds invite 

 a caressing touch, but it requires the intimacy of a 

 perfect understanding to handle with kindness the 

 ephemeral representatives of the insect world, how- 

 ever beautiful they may be in form and colour. 



These bristling and decorated larvae have 

 almost entirely disappeared, and some of them 

 have reincarnated in forms strangely different and 

 unrecognisable. During their six or eight weeks of 

 active larval existence they crawled about and feasted 

 on the leaves of the Horse-chestnut, their favourite 

 tree. Though manifesting a strong preference, they 

 do not entirely reject other foliage. As crawling is 

 their only means of locomotion, they are not extensive 

 travellers. A few drop from the branches to the 

 ground, thus circumventing the schemes of those who 

 would restrict them with metal bands and other 

 devices. Others remain lazily in the tops of the trees, 

 showing no inclination to travel. Wherever they go 

 they are beset by parasites which lay eggs in their 

 soft, tender flesh. These hatch into minute destructive 

 larvae that sap the vitality of the doomed protectors 



