THE DRINKER MOTH — THE OAK-EGGER MOTH. 807 



their hiding-place or the sheltering armor in which the creature 

 is enveloped. 



The fur-clad Drinker Moth, for example ( Odonestis potatoria), 

 spins a cocoon which bears some resemblance in its texture to 

 that of the Burnet Moth, though it is rather looser in structure 

 and is of much larger dimensions. The general color of the co- 

 coon is gray, with a few brownish mottlings here and there, and 

 in form it is spindle-shaped, being widest in the centre, and dimin- 

 ishing to a point at either extremity. Conspicuous as this cocoon 

 appears to be when exhibited in a glass case, it is any thing but 

 conspicuous in the position wherein it is placed by the insect. I 

 have bred at least two hundred moths from the caterpillar, and 

 though the space w*s necessarily limited, many of the cocoons es- 

 caped observation until after the moth had been developed and 

 made its escape. 



Like the Burnet Moth, the Drinker is very liable to the attacks 

 of ichneumons. There is now before me a cocoon which was 

 made in 18-16, and is preserved as one of the first instances of an 

 entomologist's disappointment. As it now lies on its slab of 

 white cardboard, it looks as if a charge of dust-shot had been 

 fired through it, no less than seventeen minute holes being per- 

 ceptible on one side alone, each hole representing at least one ich- 

 neumon fly which had made its escape after fulfilling its destruct- 

 ive mission. 



The handsome Oak-egger Moth (Gastropacha quercus) affords 

 another example of the pensile cocoon. Of these insects also I 

 have had great numbers; and some specimens of the moth, chrys- 

 alis, and cocoon are now before me, the cocoon unchanged by the 

 eighteen years which have elapsed since it was made, but the 

 moth sadly faded, after the manner of its kind when exposed to 

 the action of light. This insect, by the way, is one of those which 

 suffer the most from the fumes of sulphur, a lesson which I long 

 ago learned from experience. Having been told that the best 

 method of killing moths was to expose them to the fumes of 

 burning sulphur, I invented an apparatus which would cause the 

 insects to be enveloped in dense fumes, while the heat of the 

 burning sulphur was carried off in another direction. 



Of its efficacy as a means of destruction no complaint can bo 

 made, inasmuch as it destroyed the insect in a very few moments; 

 but as it likewise discharged the colors, its use was soon given up. 



