Insect Enemies of Trees 



203 



By burning the attacked leaves great numbers of the 

 caterpillars may be destroyed, while, by shaking the trees in 

 May and August, the moths will fly out, and may be caught 

 in a butterfly net. 



Wood Leopard Moth (Zeuzera cesculi). The caterpillar 

 of this beautiful moth is very destructive to the beech, ash, 

 birch, elm, walnut, privet, etc., which it bores into, eating 

 and living on the wood. Usually young trees or the 

 branches of old specimens are attacked, and the tunnelling 



WOOD LEOPARD MOTH 



(Zeuzera cesculi) 

 (Very destructive to trees, particularly around London) 



is confined in the former either to the pithy centre or the soft 

 wood near the bark. The moths appear about mid- July, 

 and the female, by piercing the bark with her powerful 

 ovipositors, deposits her eggs, one in each hole. Three 

 years are required for the caterpillar to arrive at maturity 

 when it is nearly 2 in. long. Both in form and colour the 

 leopard moth is particularly elegant, the head and thorax 

 being covered with a thick white pile, the body with a black 

 down, fringed with white at each joint. The wings are 



