171 the Larva State, wpon the Wood of Trees. ^:Qb 



consumption of wood, or, perhaps, of its unfitting of wood for timber by its 

 erosions. Goat Moth is in expression of a strong odour, like that of a goat, 

 which is very obvious in the larva and imago, and, perhaps, is founded in the 

 juices of the animal; and, if so, it is likely that it obtains in the pupa, and even 

 in the egg 



Facts on the person and habits of the species under its four states : — 



Egg. It has been quoted above, that the species lays 1000 eggs : it is meant 

 that an individual female, at a single course of laying, lays this number. 

 It is stated, that the imago appears in the end of June and beginning of July ; 

 it is usual with the female of this species to deposit eggs soon after coming 

 forth as an imago ; so that a clew is hence supplied as to about the time at 

 which the eggs are laid. The eggs are small for the size of the imago. 



Larva. {Jig. 74. a.) Dull yellow, with a brown-red back; yellowish under- 

 neath ; head black, with eight breathing-holes on each side. (Ren. Conspect.) 

 The body of the larva is sprinkled with slender hairs. The larvae " which feed 

 on the wood of the oak are paler in colour than those which feed upon the 

 willow." (Standish, in Sam. Uiit. Comp.) When is the larva hatched? The 

 larva sometimes exceeds in size Jig. 74. a ; the species is stated to continue 

 three years in the state of larva; the smallness of the egg, as compared with 

 the largeness of the larva, would strengthen this idea, and prepare us to per- 

 ceive that it would be likely to effect an extensive consumption of wood in 

 the progress of its growth. The larva diffuses a strong scent, like that of a 

 goat, by which its place of residence may be discovered to persons passing trees 

 that are much infested by the larvae. (Sajuouelle.') The green woodpecker 

 preys on the larva; and its stomach, on dissection, is sometimes almost intoler- 

 able from the stench of it : see Mr. Robertson's statement farther on. The 

 kinds of tree upon whose wood the larva has been known to feed in Britain 

 are, willows of the species Salix alba and caprea, alder, oak, ash, walnut, as- 

 pen, and poplar. Mr. P. J. Brown has communicated, in the M^ag. of Nat. Hist., 

 vol. viii. p. 559., from Meisner, that it, in Switzerland, is " every where suffi- 

 ciently common," and that " the larva is found in willow, oak, beech, lime, ash, 

 apple, and plum trees; not only in decayed, but in healthy ones also." Mr. 

 E. Murphy has found (Paxton and Harrison's Horticultural Register, and this 

 Magazine, vol. vii. p. 604.) that, of common alder (^'Inus glutinosa) and round- 

 leafed willow ((Salix caprea), ten trees growing in low moist situations were 

 infested, for one in a situation of an opposite nature; and has conjectured that, 

 possibly, the great quantity of water absorbed by the trees in the former situ- 

 ation may render its wood more palatable : and he has submitted, as more 

 probable, that the soft wood of such trees being more porous than those grow- 

 ing on high and dry ground, it offers less opposition to the larva's progress. 



Facts on the species, as learned from a larva artificially secured: commu- 

 nicated by Mr. J. Robertson, nurseryman, Kilkenny : — 



Early in March, 1831, a caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus Ligniperda) was 

 brought to me, about 3 in. long, by li in. in cii'cumference. It had been found 

 embedded in the plank of an oak recently cut down, and excited much surprise, 

 as no aperture was discovered by which it could have made its entrance. It 

 being enclosed in a phial about 2^ in. in diameter, I procured as much sawdust 

 from the tree it was found in as covered it between 2 in. and 3 in., in expect- 

 ation that it might feed on it, and then laid it aside. The caterpillar appeared 

 restless for some days, but then immerged itself completely in the sawdust, and 

 lay apparently coiled up and quiescent at the bottom of the phial. After sometime, 

 reflecting that, should it effect its change, in that situation, from the chrysalis to 

 the imago state, it might be encumbered by the loose sawdust under which it lay 

 buried, I examined it with the intention of removing a portion of the dust 

 from above it, and was surprised to find the whole interwoven firmly together 

 by fine silken threads, having an aperture over the chrysalis, which state it 

 had entered into, forming a tube about the diameter of a pencil-case, leading 

 from the chrysalis to the surface. The interwoven mass was unconnected 

 with the sides of the phial, but the chrysalis appeared attached to it. 



MM 3 



