158 NATURAL HISTORY. 



plished in thick cocoons, left in the open air. Many do 

 much damage to wood, which they injure by boring. 



The Puss Moth (bombyx vinula) is grayish, with zig- 

 zag lines of black on the fore wings, which are also veined 

 with orange ; the abdominal portion of the body irregu- 

 larly annulated or ringed with black. The larva, two 

 inches in length, has its head buried in the first ring as 

 in a collar ; on the fourth ring is a sharp-pointed tuber- 

 cular knob, and the last, just at the extremity of the 

 body, terminates or divides into two movable forked 

 points, which can be bent inwards, from which it is some- 

 times called the Fork Tail. Its color is pale green ; gray 

 above, with stripes of silky white. It lives upon the 

 willow, but in August spins on the earth, and hides 

 between bits of wood a thick cocoon, which contains a 

 short, thick, brown pupa, that comes forth, in May, a 

 winged butterfly. 



The Beech Spinner, or Squirrel Bird (bombyx fagi), 

 is mingled brown and gray above, marked with light and 

 dark zig-zag lines, dots, and points ; yellow-white below. 

 Its singular larva lives from July to September on the 

 beech and hazel ; the body is yellowish-brown, deeply 

 indented, and with long fore feet ; makes a gray, web-like 

 nest in late autumn, between the leaves, where the red- 

 dish-brown pupa awaits its transition. This species is 

 rare. 



The Goat Moth (bombyx cossus) has entirely the 

 color of the bark on which it is found : the abdomen is 

 ringed with black. The larva, from four to five inches 

 long, lives in the wood of the willow, oak, elm, pear, and 

 apple trees. As soon as the larvae issue from the eggs, 

 which are deposited in great numbers in clefts of the bark, 

 they work their way into the interior, where they feed 



