190 THE WOODLANDS. 



Moths with clear, transparent wings and striped 

 bodies, not unlike wasps, may be seen flying about in 

 the sunshine, unlike other moths. For these reasons 

 none but an entomologist would dream of their being 

 moths. The caterpillars, like white maggots, live in 

 the solid wood of trees. Some prefer poplars, others 

 willows, &c. ; and they change to a chrysalis in the 

 galleries they excavate. We have heard of sixty or 

 seventy being found in one piece of wood not more 

 than three inches in length. These and two or three 

 others which follow, cause great injury to trees. 



The Goat-moth is one of the largest of our noc- 

 turnal Lepidoptera. The name of Cossus 1 has been 

 applied to it on the supposition that it is identical 

 with the cossus of the Romans. The perfect insect 

 is from two and three-quarters to three and a half 

 inches in the expansion of its fore wings, which are 

 ashy brown, clouded with brown, and marked with a 

 number of transverse black, irregular streaks, forming 

 reticulations. The hind wings are brown, with less 

 distinct reticulations. The caterpillar is dull yellow- 

 ish, with dark chestnut scales on the back of each 

 wing, and when full-grown, as large as a man's fore- 

 finger. It feeds on willows and poplars, but will attack 

 other trees. It bores into the solid wood, forming large, 

 cylindrical channels, and does great damage, inasmuch 

 as it is three years before it becomes full grown. Young 

 trees are often rendered so weak by the channelling 

 as to be blown down by the first gale. The cocoon 

 is formed of chips of wood fastened together by a 



1 Cossus ligniperda. 



