THE 



63 



MOTH AND CATERPILLAR OF SATURNIA PYRI. 



line on the back, and they live gregariously on trees under a common web. The Moth is very 

 common in many parts of England, and the female lays her eggs closely glued together in a 

 broad ring round a slender twig. 

 The Zeuzeridw are rather 

 large Moths, whose caterpillars 

 feed 011 wood, inside the trunks 

 of trees, often causing consi- 

 derable damage. The Wood 

 Leopard Moth (Zeuzera aesculi) 

 appears to be commoner round 

 London than elsewhere in Eng- 

 land. It is white, with many 

 steel-blue spots on the wings 

 and thorax, and its caterpillar, 

 which is yellow, with a black 

 head, infests apple, ash, and other 

 trees. The Moth measures two 

 inches or more across the wings, 

 and the abdomen is long, and 

 furnished with an ovipositor in 

 the female. The Goat Moth 

 (Xyleutes cossus) is a com- 

 moner insect. It is shaded 

 with grey and brown, and 

 marked with many irregular 

 black transverse lines. It measures three inches or more across the wings, and is a very heavy- 

 looking Moth, with a thick body, which scarcely extends beyond the hind wings. The caterpillar 



is dirty flesh - colour, 

 with the back brownish- 

 red. It lives in trees, 

 especially poplars and 

 willows, and is not full- 

 grown until it is three 

 years old. Some writers 

 have supposed that this 

 caterpillar was the Cos- 

 sus which was consi- 

 dered a gi-eat dainty 

 by the Romans ; but it 

 is much more probable 

 that their Cossus was 

 the larva of some large 

 wood-feeding Beetle. 



The HepialidcK are 

 a small group with 

 narrow rounded wings, 

 very short antennae, and 

 very long bodies. The 

 largest species is the 



LACKEY MOTH AND CATERPILLAR. Ghost Moth (HepidluS 



humuli), which mea- 

 sures about two inches across the wings. The male is white above and brown beneath, and the 

 female has dull -yellow fore wings, with two oblique red stripes, more or less broken into spots, 



