CERURA. 243 



When about to pupate it forms a firm, narrow cocoon, with 

 fragments of bark, splinters, or moss. It is oval, and the 

 threads are white. 



The pupa is reddish-brown, and very small in comparison to 

 the larva. 



GENUS CERURA. 



Centra, Schrank, Fauna Boica, ii. (2) p. 155 (1802); Latreille, 

 Gen. Crust. Ins. iv. p. 219 (1809) ; Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. 

 Haust. ii. p. 15 (1828); Walker, List Lepid. Ins. Brit. 

 Mus. v. p. 982 (1855). 

 Andria y Hiibner, Tentamen, p. i (1810?). 

 Harpyia^ Ochsenheimer, Schmett. Eur. iii. p. 19 (1810); Hiib- 

 ner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 148 (1822?); Moore, Lepid. 

 Ceyl. ii. p. 108 (1883). 

 Pania, Dalman, Anal. Ent. p. 92 (1823). 

 Dicranura^ Boisduval, Ind. Meth. p. 54 (1829). 



Centra includes several species with white, rather thinly- 

 scaled, wings, with dark transverse or zig-zag markings, stout 

 woolly bodies, extending beyond the hind-wings, antennae pec- 

 tinated in both sexes, and two small terminal spurs on the hind 

 tibke. The largest, and also the commonest, of our British 

 species is called the " Puss-Moth," and the smaller species are 

 known as the " Kittens." The larvae are green, varied with 

 purplish-brown, truncate in front, with an elevation on the 

 third segment, and the anal claspers modified into long processes 

 enclosing retractile filaments. The pupa is enclosed in a hard 

 cocoon. The species are rather numerous in the Northern 

 Hemisphere. 



THE ALDER KITTEN. CERURA BICUSPIS. 



Bombyx bicuspis, Borkhausen, Eur. Schmett. iii. p. 380, no. 

 141 (1790); Hiibner, Eur. Schmett. iii. fig. 36 (1800); 

 Freyer, Neu. Beitr. iv. p. 131, Taf. 363 (1841). 



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