CUSPIDATES. 



215 



body has a white lateral stripe, ascending 

 sliquely from each side of the head to the 

 )ex of the hump, then descending obliquely 

 below the spiracle on the eighth segment, 

 icn again ascending elliptically, and termi- 

 ; at the base of the anal horns ; 

 are this white stripe the body is whitish, 

 longitudinally striated with purple-brown, 

 the white predominating along the median 

 line, the purple-brown predominating in the 

 vicinity of the lateral white stripe ; below 

 this white stripe the body is yellow green, 

 with the exception of a nearly round purple- 

 brown blotch, just above the clasper on the 

 eighth segment : this blotch, not always 

 present, is bordered above with white : the legs 

 are yellow green, with a black ring at the 

 base, and black tips ; the eight ventral 

 claspers are green, the two horn-like anal 

 tubes whitish, with black scabrosities. It feeds 

 on several varieties of narrow-leaved willow 

 (Salix}, is full-fed in July, when it crawls 

 awn the stem of the willow to within two, 

 ree, or four feet of the ground, then gnaws 

 the bark, and spins an extremely tough, 

 ley cocoon in the excavation thus made ; in 

 iis gluey cocoon it changes to a CHRYSALIS, 

 ad remains in that state all the winter. 



?he SIOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and is common in England, Scotland, 

 id Ireland. (The scientific name is Dicrantim 

 wla. ) 



Obs. 1. A correspondent of the Zoologist, 

 10 seems to have enjoyed considerable oppor- 

 lities of rearing these caterpillars, and of 

 srving their manners in confinement, has 

 published the following particulars in that 

 journal: 



" Having reared a pretty considerable 

 number of the caterpillars of the Puss-moth 

 during the present season, I have ventured 

 to put upon record a few observations 

 respecting their habits. A good number of 

 them were reared from the egg. The earliest 

 eggs were found from the beginning of June 

 to the 14th September, and I took young 

 caterpillars as late as the middle of August, 

 some of which have not yet completed their 

 growth, so that the life of the caterpillar 



extends from June to September. The mark- 

 ings on the back, it is well-known, vary 

 slightly in different individuals ; I have yet to 

 ascertain whether these are distinctive of the 

 sexes. Besides this there is one variety, dis- 

 tinguishable even from the egg, which is pink 

 instead of red. From these lighter eggs the 

 caterpillars produced have, throughout their 

 earliest stages, a reddish tint in those parts of 

 the body where the other specimens are black ; 

 and after the last change of skin they are 

 lighter than the others, both in the ground 

 colour and the shadings. These caterpillars 

 were fed both on willow and poplar, but the 

 poplar seemed to be the most congenial food, 

 and the largest in growth were fed exclusively 

 upon it. They were supplied with fresh leaves 

 twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and really 

 appeared to manifest some dim consciousness 

 of the approach of feeding time, even when 

 their stock of food was not exhausted, although 

 they certainly did not display the restless 

 agitation which the accustomed hour provokes 

 in the captive Carnivora. At each successive 

 change of skin the caterpillar devours the 

 cast-off garment, with the exception of the 

 head, which seems too tough a morsel. The 

 time occupied by each change is usually four 

 days, and the caterpillar eats nothing for about 

 half-a-day after it is completed, saving the old 

 skin. These caterpillars are remarkably pug- 

 nacious after they have changed their skins for 

 the last time, the approach of an observer 

 immediately occasioning the protrusion of the 

 tentacula or filamentous horns. As they 

 increase in size, they become more pacific. 

 These caterpillars have, as most entomolo- 

 gists have observed, the power of ejecting a 

 fluid in defence when annoyed or irritated. 

 Old writers on Natural History state that this 

 fluid is thrown from a rose-coloured aperture 

 behind the head. On the contrary, the aper- 

 ture is below the head, extending, when the 

 caterpillars are full-grown, transversely about 

 two lines, just beneath the chin, if one might 

 so call it. Eennie says that this power of 

 ejection is lost when the caterpillars are 

 removed from their parent tree. This is the 

 case with most, but singularly enough not 



