194 



OTHER DENIZENS OF THE WOODS 



Lackey Moth. 



larly the nutcracker and the cuckoo ; and the pupae in many cases become the habi- 

 tation of ichneumon-flies. 



Among the companion species of the pine lappet is the lackey 

 moth (Clisiocam/pa neustria), whose presence is revealed by its 

 eggs and cocoons. The hairy, bluish caterpillar, striped with white and red down 

 the back, lives on almost all foliage and fruit trees. The moth measures 1J inches 

 across, and is brown in colour, the fore-wings having a dark cross-stripe with a 

 light border. In July its eggs are fastened in a ring round the shoots of the 





PINE LAPPET MOTH. 



trees, and so securely fixed that they do not wash off either in rain or snow. 

 They remain through the winter, and at the end of April the caterpillars 

 emerge ; these are gregarious and live at first under a web, which the}' place in 

 the angle of a branch. 

 Pale Tussock The pale tussock moth (Dasychira pttiiilm nda) is found prin- 



Moth. cipally on the beech, but also feeds on the oak, hazel, and 

 manj' other deciduous trees. The larva is green witli velvety black patches, four 

 yellow tufts on the central rings, and a rose-coloured tuft above the tail. In 

 spring this moth is distributed over Europe, mainly in the beech-woods of the 



