BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 195 



The insect which approaches nearest to the wild 

 silk-moths of India is our " Emperor Moth/' 1 with a 

 large eye-spot near the centre of each wing. It is 

 much more abundant than the Kentish Glory. The 

 caterpillar is green, and feeds upon willow, blackthorn, 

 and other plants. Its cocoon is pear-shaped, with an 

 opening at one end. 



Observers of insect life will have observed a snow- 

 white moth hanging about hedges, and even the 

 undergrowth in woods, which is very sluggish in its 

 habits ; so lazy that it may be caught with the fingers. 

 If it falls down in a clumsy attempt to take it, then it 

 gathers up its legs and lies still, as if to simulate 

 death. There are two or three species of these 

 sluggish white moths, and one of them has a tuft of 

 brown hairs at the tail, 2 and another much more 

 common has a tuft of yellow hairs at the tail. 3 These, 

 and some others, spin a slight web, on which their 

 eggs are laid, and the chrysalis is hairy. Of the 

 former of these moths it is recorded that in 1783 the 

 caterpillars were so numerous and destructive in the 

 neighbourhood of London, that " subscriptions were 

 opened to employ the poor in cutting off and collect- 

 ing the webs ; and it is said that not less than eighty 

 bushels were collected and burnt in one day in the 

 parish of Clapham. And even in some places prayers 

 were offered up in the churches to avert the calamities 

 of which they were supposed by the ignorant to be 

 the forerunner." We transcribe this account as it is 



1 Salurnia pavonia minor. 3 P. auriflua. 



* Porthesia chrysorrhcea. 



O 2 



