228 MOTH. 



be penetrated by the frost, and too strong to be 

 successfully attacked by birds, &c. it requires even 

 a very sharp knife, assisted by a strong hand, to 

 force it open. The chrysalis is thick, short, and 

 black, and in the month of May or June, accord- 

 ing to the warmth or coolness of the season, gives 

 birth to the Moth, which, immediately on emerg- 

 ing from the upper part of the chrysalis, discharges 

 a quantity of fluid sufficient to soften effectually 

 the walls of its prison, and effect a ready escape. 

 This moth, from its unusually downy appearance, 

 has obtained the popular title of the Puss Moth. 



Phalcena fuscicanda or the Brown-Tail Moth is 

 remarkable for the ravages which its caterpillar 

 commits, by destroying the foliage of trees and 

 hedges, and reducing them to a perfectly bare ap- 

 pearance. The moth itself is about a third part 

 less than that of a Silkworm, and is of a fine satiny 

 white, except the hinder part of the body, which 

 is of a deep brown. The caterpillar is brown, with 

 ferruginous hairs, a row of white spots along each 

 side, and two red spots on the lower part of the 

 back: it is of a gregarious nature, vast numbers 

 residing together under one common web: they 

 are hatched early in autumn, from eggs laid by 

 the parent moths *, and immediately form for 

 themselves a small web, and begin feeding on the 

 foliage of the tree or shrub on which they were 

 placed: they marshal themselves with great regu- 



; lfer?.niqa 



* See Curtis's History of the Brown-Tail Moth. Lpnd* 

 1783, 4to. 



