MOTHS 



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north, where in the larval stage it first reduces the leaves to skeletons as a 

 preliminary to destroying them utterly, and finally descends to enter the pupa- 

 stage and hibernate. 

 Black-Arches Another forest-pest is the black -arches moth (Ocneria rnonacka), 



Moth. whose caterpillar, from July to September, infests not only deciduous 

 trees but conifers. It may be distinguished by its blue and red warts, the black 

 spot on the second segment, and the dark line down the back. The moth has 

 white front-wings with black zigzag lines, gre)' hind- wings with a white edging, and 

 a reddish abdomen. It measures about 2 inches across ; the males being smaller than 

 the females, which are distinguished by the long ovipositor. The caterpillar emerges 



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BLACK-ARCHES MOTHS IN FLIGHT AND IN REPOSE. 



from the winter-eggs in April, and begins to eat only the centres of the leaves. 

 At the end of June, just before becoming a pupa, it is extraordinarily ravenous, and 

 by no means particular as to the sort of tree it attacks. 



Procession The grey-haired caterpillar of the procession moth (Cnethocampa 



Moths. processioned,), which frequents deciduous trees, particularly oaks, in 

 May and June, is unknown in Britain and on the Continent east of the Oder. The 

 moth, which has a wing-spread of just over an inch, is distinguished by a very 

 hairy forehead, and clouded ashy grey fore-wings, marked with two oblique 

 grey lines, often having black specks between them. The females are paler and 

 less distinctly marked ; the tip of the abdomen being brownish yellow. This moth 

 is remarkable for the singular habits of its larvae, which advance in a 

 solid phalanx upon the tender foliage, one caterpillar always leading, closely 



