THE BROWN-TAILED MOTH. 369 



metal, preserving the surface and defending it from moisture, 

 the insect is called the Lacquer, a word which has been cor- 

 rupted into Lackey. 



In wet weather the Lackey caterpillars prefer to remain in 

 their silken home, leaving it only for the purpose of feeding. 

 They never lose their way, because, like the larvae of the little 

 ermine moth, which has been already described, they continually 

 spin a single silken thread as they go along, and are, therefore, 

 provided with an infallible guide to the track. Before they 

 change to the pupal state they leave the nest. 



The larva of this species is a very prettily marked creature, 

 the body being striped with blue and yellow and white. The 

 moth itself is yellow, with a slight tinge of orange, and across 

 the upper pair of wings runs a dark band edged on either side 

 by a paler streak. As there is another allied species, which lives 

 on various seaside plants, the present insect ought more properly 

 to be called the Tree Lackey. The moth seems to be rather 

 periodical and local; for, although specimens are found annually 

 in most years, they swarm to such an extent in certain places, 

 that whole rows of fruit trees are denuded of their leaves, and 

 covered with the silken webs of the pretty but destructive 

 caterpillars. 



The Brown-tailed Moth is another of the arboreal insects, 

 and spins a web very like that of the gold-tailed moth, which 

 has already been described. In some seasons it is more nume- 

 rous than in others, and occasionally seen in vast multitudes. 

 This phenomenon is often observable among insects, as is well 

 known to all practical entomologists, and in more than one 

 instance the caterpillars of the Brown-tailed Moth have been so 

 plentiful as to become a positive pest. 



They are social larvae, and, as they are hatched late in the 

 autumn, they spin a joint web, in which they can be secure 

 throughout the winter months. As the brood is mostly nume- 

 rous, and as two or more broods may unite in forming a common 

 dwelling, their habitation is extremely large, often enveloping 

 several branches together with their twigs and leaves. Like the 



