BOMBYCES 229 



eight inclusive is a brush-like tuffc of yellowish hairs. It feeds on 

 almost every tree usually to be found in parks and gardens. 



When fully grown it spins a web on the bark of a tree, or on 

 a wall or fence, and 

 changes to a hairy 

 chrysalis. 



The female of this 

 species is wingless, and 

 never moves away 

 from the cocoon out of 

 which she has crawled, FIG. 127. LABVA OF THE VAPOURER MOTH. 

 but lays her eggs on 

 the outside of the silken web, and there remains to die. 



The clusters of eggs may be found in abundance throughout the 

 winter months. 



Family BOMBYCID^E 



This family contains eleven thick-bodied moths, mostly of large 

 size, in which the predominating colours are greys and browns. 

 Their hind wings are generally paler than the front pair, and less 

 distinctly marked ; and the antennae of the males are pectinated. 



The caterpillars are very hairy, but the hairs are uniformly 

 distributed, and not arranged in tufts as in the larvae of the last 

 family. 



The chrysalides are inclosed in silken cocoons, but are not 

 hairy. 



We shall briefly examine three of the members of this family. 



The Oak Eggar (Bombyx Quercus) 



The male of this species is shown on Plate X (fig. 5). The 

 female is much larger, and of a pale tawny colour. 



The ground colour of the caterpillar is black ; but it is so closely 

 covered with short yellowish brown hairs that the black is scarcely 

 visible, excepting when the creature rolls itself up into a ring, 

 which it does when alarmed. The spiracles are white, and there 

 is a series of white spots down the middle of the back and along each 

 side. It feeds on whitethorn (Cratcegus oxyacantha), heather 

 (Calluna, Erica), poplar (Populus nigra), and various other plants 

 and trees. 



