THE TIGER MOTH. 305 



a considerable height without suffering any injury, and in all 

 probability their formidable appearance serves to deter foes from 

 meddling with it. 



Certain enemies, however, care nothing for this hairy defense, 

 but swallow the caterpillar without hesitation. Chief among 

 these foes is the cuckoo, which feeds largely on the caterpillar of 

 the Tiger Moth, and, in consequence, is subject to a very remark- 

 able phenomenon. The interior of the gizzard had long been 

 known to be lined with hair, which was thought to be a natural 

 and ordinary growth peculiar to the species. It was however 

 discovered — I believe by John Hunter — that these hairs are those 

 of the Tiger Moth, the points of which have worked themselves 

 into the coats of the organ in which they were found. Hunter 

 employs this fact as an illustration of the power and peculiar 

 movement of the gizzard. 



Doubts have been thrown upon the accuracy of Hunter's state- 

 ment ; but the question has been set at rest by two facts. In the 

 first place, cuckoos that have been held in confinement do not 

 possess the hairy lining; and, in the second place, the microscope 

 proves that the hairs are those of a caterpillar, allied at least to 

 the Tiger Moth, if not belonging to the insect itself 



When the caterpillar has ceased feeding, and is about to be- 

 come a pupa, it ascends some convenient object, and then spins a 

 beautiful cocoon, shaped very much like the grass hammocks 

 made by the natives of tropical America, and bearing a consider- 

 able resemblance to them in general form, as well as in the loose 

 and open meshes. So long, indeed, are the meshes made, that the 

 inclosed insect can be seen through the network, from the time 

 that the old wrinkled skin is cast off and pushed away in a heap 

 by the white and shining chrysalis, to the time when the chrys- 

 alis shell is in its turn shattered, and the perfect moth creeps 

 slowly into the air, all dull, and sodden, and bewildered, with its 

 undeveloped wings looking like four mottled split peas rather 

 than the beautiful members which they soon become, when the 

 air has passed into their vessels, and their multitudinous folds 

 have been shaken out. 



I hope that none of my readers will kill a Tiger Moth in either 

 of its stages. It does no harm to the gardener, and has quite 

 enough foes of its own ; the ichneumon flies piercing it in spite 

 of its long bristles, and the cuckoo, together with other birds, 

 reveling in so large and juicy a morsel. It is a special favorite 



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