214 



BRITISH MOTHS, 



388. The Puss Moth (Dicranura vinula). 



388. THE Puss MOTH. The antennae 

 are pectinated in both sexeg, but much 

 more strongly so in the male ; the fore 

 wings are rounded at the tip, their colour 

 is gray, with very numerous darker mark- 

 ings, some of which those nearest the base 

 and costal margin are generally short, 

 transverse, and bounded by the wing-rays ; 

 som3 of them, however, unite in forming an 

 obscure transverse band near the base of 

 the wing ; still nearer the base is a trans- 

 verse series of five or six black spots, and 

 there are one or two others at the very 

 base ; the principal wing-rays are denuded 

 of scales, and therefore appear yellowish, 

 but the parallel rays, extending to the 

 hind margin, are clothed with black scales ; 

 there is a distinct crescent-shaped discoidal 

 spot, between which and the hind margin are 

 several deeply zigzag smoke-coloured lines ; 

 on the hind margin are nine or ten distinct 

 smoke-coloured streaks, alternating with 

 the wing-rays, and terminating in black 

 marginal dots : the hind wings are snowy- 

 white at the base, rather smoke-coloured in' 

 the disc ; they have a faint discoidal spot, 

 and four or five dark spots in the fringe : 

 the head is white, the thorax nearly white, 

 with eight intensely-black spots the body 



is whitish-gray, with transverse smoke- 

 coloured markings. The female is much 

 larger than the male, and has the wings 

 and body considerably darker. 



The EGGS are laid on the leaves of willows 

 and poplars, and the young larvae when 

 they emerge from the egg-shell are almost 

 black, and have two processes, something 

 like ears, standing out from the front of the 

 second segment, one on each side of the 

 head ; as the caterpillars increase in size, 

 these little ears gradually decrease in rela- 

 tive magnitude, and at length merge in the 

 black spots adjoining the head, which are 

 presently to be described. The full-grown 

 CATERPILLAR rests with its flat head drawn 

 into the second segment, and its anterior 

 segments elevated ; the body is quite 

 smooth, the dorsal outline rising to a 

 pointed hump on the fourth segment, then 

 falling to the sixth segment, then of 

 uniform substance to the ninth, and thence 

 the body is rapidly attenuated to the 

 thirteenth, which terminates in two horns 

 covered with scabrous points, each emitting, 

 when the caterpillar is irritated, a slender, 

 pink, drooping filament ; the head is pale 

 brown in front, and black at the sides ; the 

 recess into which the head is withdrawn is 



