62 Notice of the Aranea acideata, <^c. 



PHAL^NA ANT1Q,UA, 

 WHITE SPOT TUSSOCK MOTH, 



or 



VAPOURER, 

 LEPIDOPTERA. 



Generic Character. — Antennae taper from the base : no trunk: 

 wings depressed ; back hairy. 



Specific Character. — Antennae feathered, first wings cloudy, 

 waved and spotted with brown, and a white spot on the posterior 

 •angle. 



The female Vapourer Moth, at first sight perfectly resembles an 

 apterous insect ', but on inspection, very small wings are seen on the 

 extremity of the thorax, and the antennae determine it to be a Pha- 

 iaena. It creeps in a sluggish manner, and deposits many eggs. 



The Phalaena antiqua, of which I send you a drawing, was the 

 last season unusually destructive to the thorn hedges ; — appearing 

 very early in summer, and not disappearing till late in November. 

 The period of individual life I could not determine. 



But the larva, of what I conjecture to be one of the Sphinges, has 

 most perplexed my efibrts at investigation. My love of natural his- 

 tory and constant search after objects of curiosity and interest, had 

 enlisted in my service the gardener, and his subordinates, who never 

 failed of bringing forthwith to my hand, whatever they found, ani- 

 mate or inanimate, that was likely to become a subject of study. 

 A boy brought me the small branch of an apple-tree, and I was 

 proceeding to examine the insects which were feeding upon its leaves, 

 when to my amazement, something which had seemed a part of the 

 stem, began to move, and presently passed with great rapidity to the 

 extremity of the branch. When at rest the resemblance of the up- 

 per surface was so exact with the young bark of the branch on 

 which it was fixed, that I am persuaded its presence might have 

 escaped the most accurate investigation — and this deception was 

 the more complete from the unusual shape of the caterpillar, not 

 less than the color. I can liken it to nothing save the external 

 third of a hollow cylinder — and I fear this awkward simile will hard- 

 ly be intelligible. The under surface of the body is brilliant orange, 

 spotted with vivid blacJc ; — the superior surface, which I before no- 

 ticed as assimilating in appearance to the young bark, was pale sea 

 green., marked with ash, blended into white. When in motion the 

 whole appearance of the reptile is changed ; — the colors brighten ; 



