464 INSi:CTS AT HOME. 



eio-ht very black spots, so that it strongly reminds the observer 

 of minever. The head is also whiU^, and is held so much 

 under the thorax that, when the creature is at rest, the head is 

 quite invisible, and nothing can be seen but the ends of the 

 antennae, which are laid along either side of the thorax. 



The caterpillar of this pretty Moth affords a singular example 

 of grotesque form and beautiful colouring. The head is flat, 

 and, when the creature is at rest, is drawn back into tlie second 

 segment. The fourth segment is produced into a large and 

 ])ointed hump, and from the ninth segment the body tapers to 

 the end. Here are developed two rough horn-like projections, 

 from each of which can be protruded a horny pink iilament, 

 which seems to be employed as a weapon. It has been 

 suggested that these appendages are used for the purpose of 

 driving away ichneumon-flies when they settle on the body in 

 the hope of depositing their eggs. Whether this theory be 

 correct or not is undetermined, but the caterpillar certainly 

 does protrude them when irritated. The larva has another 

 weapon, if it may be so called. Below the head there is a 

 transverse slit about the sixth of an inch in length. When 

 the creatin-e is alarmed or angered, from this aperture is 

 ejected a fluid of an acrid character, which may probably have 

 some injurious or deterrent effect upon the enemies of the 

 Puss Moth larva. 



The colour of this caterpillar is singularly beautiful — leaf- 

 green on the sides and whitish above, with some stripes of 

 purple-brown. Between these two colours a white stripe 

 runs from the side of the head to the tip of the hump, and 

 then passes to the base of the double tail. The stripes are so 

 arranged that when the larva is viewed from above, they appear 

 something like the capital letter X. In some specimens, 

 though not in all, there is a large purple patch on the eighth 

 segment. 



This larva feeds both on the willow and poplar, and, being 

 very hardy, is easily reared throughout its changes. When 

 full-fed, which takes place about the end of May, it leaves its 

 food, crawls down the trunk of the tree, and creeps into some 

 convenient crevice of the bark. In this refuge it forms a 

 cocoon made of small chips of the bark fastened together with 

 fcilk, and of wonderful strength. The cocoon, indeed, is mostly 



