204 PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS, 



100. The Hop Dog, light Tussock Moth, or Beech Spinner, Bomlyx 

 (Orgy ia, Dasychira) pudibunda. 



(Vide Plate III. fig. 21.) 



The female moth has a span of 2 to 24 inches, whilst the male, 

 though somewhat smaller, is easily recognisable by its yellowish- 

 brown feathery antenme. 



The front portion of the body and the upper wings are of a 

 reddish-white or whitish-grey colour, with two darker transverse 

 bands ; the lower part of the body and the back wings are lighter 

 in colour, and with an indistinct transverse band, looking more like 

 a patch than any regular stripe. 



The caterpillar, which attains a length of 1'6 inches, is of a 

 greenish-yellow colour at first, but afterwards turns reddish ; it is 

 characterised by four thick, yellowish-grey tufts of hair on the 

 fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of the body, between 

 which the velvety black incisions stand out prominently, and also 

 by a long red or ruddy brown tuft of hair on the second last 

 section towards its extremity. 



The dark brown to greyish-yellow hairy chrysalis passes through 

 the pupal state of rest in a cocoon. 



This moth swarms about the end of May and the beginning of 

 June, when the female deposits her ova, to the number of 100 or 

 more, on the bark of poles or tree-stems usually only from about 

 3 to 10 feet above the ground ; the eggs are at first of a greyish- 

 green colour, but gradually darken to a brownish-grey. 



About the end of June the young caterpillars make their 

 appearance, devour the egg-shells from which they have just 

 issued, and, like the Spruce-moth, cluster together for a few days 

 in schools or colonies before ascending to begin feeding on the 

 young foliage. At first they only nibble or gnaw the leaves 

 slightly, but later on, with growing strength, they eat large 

 portions of them, and often finally completely gnaw through the 

 leaves near the petiole, so that parts of them fall down and 

 may be found strewn over the ground. 



In autumn, about the end of September or October, they 

 descend from the trees on which they have been feeding, and 

 form their cocoons in moss, or under dead foliage or the like, 

 where they hibernate as chrysalides. 



