GOLD-TAIL MOTHS. 105 



second, coming nearer, spoliates on our gardens ; a third, more 

 daring, invades our granaries; while a fourth, boldest of all, 

 attacks the citadel, and makes havoc in our houses. 



To begin with the first division of our numerous army. 

 Among the most formidable invaders of the oak are certain 

 caterpillar broods, whose earliest infant steps are accustomed to 

 be taken over the surface of a leaf, which they traverse in 

 marching order. 



Our youthful invaders of the forest are not strong enough to 

 brave an inclement season without shelter. No sooner, there- 

 fore, do the changing hues of autumn begin to threaten them 

 with failure of their supplies, than with instinctive foresight 

 they begin to prepare cantonments for the winter ; and long 

 before the arrival of November we may behold our oak-leaf 

 companies snugly housed in branch-suspended barracks, con- 

 sisting of hammocks spun by themselves of thickly- woven silk. 



Yet awhile, perhaps towards the beginning of July, and 

 we pass beneath some ill-fated oak-tree on which the legion 

 has been actively engaged. Where, now, proud monarch of 

 the woods, are thy verdant honours ? Where that crown of 

 royalty, which, when other leafy coronets are falling around 

 thee, is wont to be only gilded by the suns of autumn, and 

 still held fast, often glows the richer even for the blasts of 

 winter ? That diadem has been stripped from thy brow by a 

 vile caterpillar crew. But where are the destroyers ? These 

 ruthless ravagers are nowhere to be seen. But what have we 

 here, resting on the shady side of an oak's spoliated trunk ? A 

 little creature of surpassing elegance and beauty; her body 

 seems clothed in a garment of softest swan's down, trimmed at 

 the bottom by a flounce of golden fur ; her ample wings of the 

 same unsullied hue, but of more satiny appearance, are bordered 

 by a corresponding fringe; and even her delicate feet are furred 

 or feathered with white nearly to her toes. Her full black 

 eyes, though lacking lustre, do not lack beauty; and rising 

 from her head, in graceful curves, a pair of snow-white plumes, 



