THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 213 



moths themselves. The glare attracts them, and they are 

 soon scorched by the flame in consequence of going too 

 near it. 



The Pine Bombyx enjoys the evil prerogative of being 

 placed in the front rank of the enemies of our forests. Of 

 all insects it is the most injurious to the tree of which it 

 bears the name. It especially attacks wood of from sixty to 

 eighty years old, and many examples are known of forests 

 at this age being totally destroyed by these caterpillars, 

 which the German wood-growers call " pine spinners/' on 

 account of the numerous cocoons with which they cover 

 the leaves of this tree. 



The foresters equally dread another moth, commonly 

 called the monk or nun, on account of its robe being laced 

 with black and white, like that of certain devotees. It is 

 all the more fatal because its caterpillar attacks not only 

 the coniferous forests, but in addition all forest trees, such 

 as the birch, oak, beech, etc. The perfect insects are met 

 with in autumn, and sometimes in such abundance that at a 

 distance one might take them for snow-flakes drifting about. 

 The regular exterminations of which we have previously 

 spoken are also directed against this insect. 



Among those insects the progeny of which devastates our 

 woods, we should mention also the Pine-Eating Phalsena. 

 Its caterpillars, which sometimes multiply to an extraor- 

 dinary extent, make great havoc in the pine forests. They 

 are particularly to be dreaded, because they show them- 

 selves very early, and devour the young shoots. The same 

 means are taken to stop their ravages as with the others ; 

 their invasion is checked by trenches, and in some places 



