ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



GASTROPACHA QUERCIFOLIA. Ochsenheimer. 

 The Lappet Moth. 



Wings indented and of a ferruginous colour ; the 

 mouth and tibia blue black. 



This species has its latin trivial name from the 

 resemblance it bears, when at rest, to a withered oak 

 leaf. The caterpillar is hairy, and of a ferruginous 

 colour, with a projection like a tail ; the segments 

 at the neck are blue ; it feeds on grasses, the sloe, 

 the pear and the willow ; the pupa is brown with 

 red fasciae ; they enter into this state about the end 

 of May, and in a month the moth appears. 



The caterpillar has often been taken at Coombe 

 Wood, Surrey, near the residence of Lord Liverpool ; 

 also in several parts of Kent ; but in Cambridgeshire 

 and the neighbourhood of Wittleseamere, it appears 

 to be abundant, feeding on the round-leaved willows. 

 We once possessed a female that deposited a quantity 

 of eggs, and the caterpillars came out in the autumn ; 

 they fed freely ; but as the winter increased they 

 shrunk considerably. As the spring advanced we 

 supplied them with various plants, and they fed on 

 the bark of the younger shoots ; but we were not 

 successful in bringing them to perfection, as they 

 died off gradually. It is however interesting to 

 know that this species will remain in the caterpillar 

 state through the winter. 



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