LEPIDOPTERA. 



107 



LACKEY-MOTH. 



Perfect insect, eggs, larvae, and cocoon. 



procession, as represented in the illustration. One, the leader, marches at the 



head, followed by two, three, and so on, forming a wedge-shaped column. They 



ascend the oak-trees and return again in the same manner to their resting-place. 



They also spin their cocoons together as in Fig. 5 of the illustration. The species is 



common throughout Central and Southern Europe in August and September. As 



our last representative 



of the family we take 



the lackey-moth (Clis- 



iocampa neustria), 



which is common in 



England and all through 



Europe and North and 



Western Asia during 



July and August. The 



fore - wings are dull 



ochre-brown, with two 



oblique transverse 



brown bars. The eggs 



are laid by the female 



in the late summer in 



a firmly attached ring 



round some small twigs, 



as shown in the illustration. The larvae hatch in the spring following, and are 



brown with blue, white, red, and yellow longitudinal stripes ; all feed on the leaves 



of the pear and other fruit trees, and spin a long sulphurous yellow cocoon amongst 



the leaves. 



Family LymaNTBIID^E. 



This group includes a number of moths in which the males have the antennas 

 strongly pectinated, while in the case of the genus Orgyia the female is wingless. 

 None possess a proboscis. The larvae are hairy, and clothed with long thick tufts, 

 springing in some places from wart-like prominences. The hairs of the larvae are 

 woven into the cocoon, and if they come in contact with the skin cause great 

 irritation. In this family are included some well-known British moths, such as the 

 vapourer (Orgyia antiqua), the pale tussock (Dasychira pudibunda), the black 

 arches (Lymantria monacha), the gold-tail and brown-tail, the satin-moth, and 



many others. In the gipsy-moth (Ocneria 

 dispar) the wings of the male are smoky 

 black, while those of the female are grey; 

 the appearance of the two sexes being very 

 different indeed. The larvae feed on various 

 trees, and though very rare in England are 

 sometimes so abundant on the Continent as 

 to prove very destructive to all kinds of 

 trees and herbage ; stripping even maize and 

 hermaphrodite gipsy-moth. millet-fields, orchard, and vegetable produce. 



