148 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



ings ; the hind-wings are a rich red with black spots. The cater- 

 pillar is popularly known as the " Woolly Bear," and is covered 

 with tufts of long black hair tipped with white. 



The Vapourer Moth (Orgyia antiqua) is of interest not only as 

 an agricultural pest, but because the female has only rudimentary 

 wings, and looks almost like a misshapen spider. The Puss Moth 

 and the Lobster Moth are both of interest on account of their 

 remarkable caterpillars. That of the Puss Moth has only fourteen 

 legs, the claspers being replaced by two long slender tubes, from 

 which, when the insect is angry or alarmed, two wavy red fila- 

 ments are protruded, and are used to frighten away the ichneumon 

 flies that attack it. It is a large handsome caterpillar when full 

 grown, of a delicate green with a purplish brown back, bordered 

 by a band of white. The head is large, and the third and fourth 

 thoracic segments are raised up into a hump. The caterpillar of 

 the Lobster Moth is chestnut-brown, with enormously long legs, 

 and the hind part of the body swollen out into a curious shape 

 somewhat resembling the claw of a lobster, from which the insect 

 takes its popular name. 



The Processionary Moth (Cnethocampa processioned) is frequently 

 met with on the Continent, where the caterpillars, which are bluish- 

 black on the back, and whitish on the sides, feed gregariously on 

 oaks. They form a common web, in which they remain quietly 

 during the day, but at sunset come forth to feed, issuing in regular 

 order, first one, then another, then a third, and then comes a 

 rank of three or four individuals, which is followed by one of many 

 more, and so on, the ranks ever increasing in number. After 

 feeding the same order is taken up, and the caterpillars march 

 back to their web in the same formation. These caterpillars are 

 covered with fine barbed hairs, which, as well as the dust in the 

 webs, are terribly irritating to the skin, producing very painful 

 swelling and inflammation. 



The family Saturniidae is a very important one, for it con- 

 tains some of the largest moths in the world, and, with the 

 exception of the Mulberry Silk Moth, which belongs to the family 

 Bombycidce, contains all those moths whose caterpillars produce 

 silk of commercial value. The Oak-feeding Silkworm (Anther cea 

 yamamai) yields a large and beautiful cocoon of excellent quality 

 from which a great deal of the silk used in Japan is manufactured. 



