42 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



inside of a piece of loose bark or to the tree 

 itself; at others, spun up tightly among 

 decayed leaves, dead grass, &c., in August and 

 September. (The scientific name is I'atcUo- 

 campa l*opttli.) 



92. The Small Eggar (Eriogaster lanestris). 

 92. THE SMALL EGGAR. Fore wings 

 reddish-brown, paler towards the hind margin, 

 and having a white spot at the base, and 

 another in the centre of the wing ; and beyond 

 the central white spot, half way between it 

 and the hind margin of the wing, is a narrow, 

 waved, transverse, white line : hind wings 

 pale red-brown with a straight, pale, indistinct 

 bar across the middle of the wing ; antenna) 

 with the shaft brown, the fringe pale-brown ; 

 head and thorax red-brown ; body red-brown 

 at the base, smoky-brown and very hairy at 

 the end; in the female, furnished with a 

 great quantity of silky hair, with wliich she 

 covers her eggs. The caterpillar is gregarious, 

 feeding in company, and when young, spinning 

 a web over the hawthorn, on which it com- 

 monly feeds, but sometimes also on elm. It 

 is slightly hairy, and almost black, with three 

 white spots and two red warts on the back 

 of each segment; there is also a pale-grey 

 stripe along each side. It spins a small, 

 oval, very compact cocoon at the end of June, 

 and the Moth appears the following February. 

 (The scientific name is Eriogaster lanestris.) 



93. The Lackey (Bombyx neiistria'). 



93. THE LACKEY. Fore wings bright red- 

 brown or yellow, with two pale, oblique, trans- 



verse bars, the first rather before the middle, 

 the second rather beyond the middle ; in the 

 yellow specimens these bars are dark -brown 

 the fringe at the hind margin is alternately 

 pale and dark ; hind wings red-brown, 

 generally slightly paler than the fore wings, 

 with a very indistinct straight bar across the 

 middle ; head, thorax, and body, bright red- 

 brown. A very variable insect, scarcely two 

 specimens being exactly alike. The cater- 

 pillar is long, slender, and flaccid ; it has no 

 power to roll itself in a ring ; in its early 

 life it is gregarious, spinning the web over the 

 leaves and twigs of the apple-trees, and giving 

 them a completely unhealthy an'd blighted, if 

 not disgusting-appearance; on this web the half- 

 grown caterpillars may sometimes be observed 

 sunning themselves by dozens. The head is 

 blue-grey, with two spots looking like eyes ; 

 the second segment is blue-grey, with four 

 black spots ; all the other segments are 

 striped throughout ; there is a central white 

 stripe down the very middle of the back ; on 

 each side of this is a slender black line, then 

 an orange-red stripe, then a black stripe, 

 spotted with blue, then a narrow and inter- 

 rupted orange stripe, then a broad blue stripe, 

 then an orange stripe, dotted on each side 

 with black, and below this, near the legs, the 

 caterpillar is blue-grey, dotted with black ; 

 it spins an oblong sulphur-coloui'ed cocoon, 

 in which a sulphur-coloured powder is abun- 

 dantly intermixed. In this it changes to a 

 smooth brown chrysalis, from whence the 

 Moth emerges in July. The female lays her 

 eggs in the neatest possible ring round the 

 twigs of the apple-trees. (The scientific name 

 is Bombyx nenstria.) 



94. The Ground Lackey (Male) (Bombyx castrensis). 



94. THE GROUND LACKEY. Fore wings of 

 the male dull red-brown or yellow, with two 

 transverse bars ; the first, before the middle of 

 the wing, turns inwards towards its base be- 



