24 GOAT MOTH. 



rous transverse bands. The hind-wings are the 

 same, but more faintly coloured. The thorax 

 is brown, tinged with yellow ; the abdomen, 

 which is large, the same, with a longitudinal 

 yellow band along its full extent. The other 

 plumage is remarkably soft and woolly. 



The larva is, when full-grown, very large, 

 smooth, and of a mahogany-red colour. It re- 

 mains in the larval state for three years, con- 

 structing in the winter of each year a cocoon 

 from the chips of gnawed wood. These cocoons 

 vary in size with the dimensions of the insect, 

 and I have before me a series of three cocoons 

 made by the same larva, that I was fortunate 

 enough to procure from a willow-tree in Kent. 



The willow is the favourite tree of the Goat 

 Moth, though the insect does attack the poplar, 

 the ash, and the elm. A figure of a half- grown 

 Goat Moth larva is given in the illustration marked 

 F, fig. 3, page 16. 



The Goat Moth is the only English represen- 

 tative of the genus. By some naturalists the 

 caterpillar is thought to be the " cossus " which, 

 when cooked, was a favourite dish with Roman 

 epicures in the time of the Caesars. 



OUR next insect is the curious GHOST MOTH 



