THE GOAT MOTH 49 



PLATE XXVI 



THE GOAT MOTH (1 and 2) 



Somehow or other, one does not very often 

 see this moth, although it is quite common in 

 almost all parts of the country. But just now 

 and then it flies through an open window into 

 a well-lighted room at night, and then it looks 

 so big as it goes blundering about that one might 

 almost mistake it for a bat. 



Nearly everybody sometimes sees the cater- 

 pillar, however — a great flesh-coloured creature 

 three or four inches long, with a black head, and 

 a broad band of chocolate-brown running all the 

 way along its back. Like that of the wood 

 leopard, it feeds in the trunks of trees, in which 

 it lives for three whole years ; and out from its 

 burrow a dark brown liquid comes oozing, which 

 smells something like the odour of a he-goat. 

 That is why the insect is called the " Goat " Moth. 

 When this caterpillar is fully grown it leaves its 

 burrow, and goes crawling about in search of a 

 convenient place in which to spin its cocoon ; 

 and this is the time when one generally sees it. 

 The moth appears in June and July, and you 

 should look for the caterpillar in September. 



