62 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



There is a large black eye in the middle of each wing marked with a white crescent inside, and 

 surrounded with yellow and black rings. The caterpillar is green, with black transverse bands and 

 reddish tubercles, studded with short hair. It feeds on heath, &c., and constructs a hard pear- 

 shaped cocoon. The Emperor Moth is not an uncommon insect, but it is allied to the Great Peacock 

 Moth (Saturnia pyri\ which measures six inches across the wings, and is the largest Moth found in 



CATERPILLAR, CHRYSALIS, AND MOTH OF SATURNIA CYNTHIA. 



Europe, but has not been met with farther north than Paris or Vienna. It is a dark- grey Moth with 

 white borders, within which the wings are much darker than elsewhere. The eyes resemble those of 

 S. carpini, but are dusted with blue, and the caterpillar is green, with blue warts instead of red 

 ones, and it feeds on different kinds of trees, especially fruit-trees. 



The Lasiocampidce are large or middle-sized Moths, with stout, hairy bodies, and strong wings, 

 and the caterpillars are clothed with soft hair. The Moths are generally of dull colours brown, 

 reddish-brown, or yellowish predominating. 



The Lappet Moth (Gastropachi quercifolia), which is not very common in England, may be 

 known by its reddish-brown dentated wings, marked with zigzag transverse lines. The Oak Eggar 

 (Laslocampa quercus), which is of about the same size, is a much commoner insect, and the hind 

 margins are not dentated. The male is chestnut-brown, and the female ochre-yellow ; across the 

 wings runs a broad transverse band of pale yellow, which is much more distinct in the male than in 

 the female, but there is a white spot in both sexes about the middle of the fore wings. The cater- 

 pillar is black, with paler hairs, and a white stripe on each side. It feeds on many plants, including 

 oak, and forms an egg-shaped cocoon, whence its name. The male flies very rapidly in the daytime, 

 but may easily be decoyed within reach, if the collector has bred a female from the caterpillar, and 

 carries her alive to a spot frequented by the males. It is not necessary to set her at liberty, or even 

 to keep her in an open box ; she will attract the males just as readily if carried in a closed box in the 

 pocket. The Lackey Moth (Clisiocampa neustrici) is a smaller representative of this family, only 

 expanding about an inch and a half across the wings. The fore wings are either ochre-yellow, witli 

 two brown transverse stripes, or brownish-red, with pale yellow ones ; the hind wings are paler than 

 the fore wings, and unstriped. The caterpillars are striped with blue, red, and yellow, with a white 



