THE OAK EGGAR 6l 



PLATE XXXII 



THE OAK EGGAR (i) 



If you walk across a heath or a moor on a 

 hot day in June you may often see a large brown 

 moth dashing wildly about quite close to the 

 ground. This is almost sure to be a male Oak 

 Eggar. You can always tell him from the female 

 by his deep chestnut-brown wings, hers being 

 light brownish-yellow. And besides that, she is 

 a good deal larger than he is, and has a very 

 much stouter body. 



The caterpillar of this moth is a big brown 

 creature, which you may find feeding upon the 

 leaves of hawthorn bushes in May. You cannot 

 possibly mistake it for that of any other insect, 

 for its body is covered all over with short yellow 

 down, just like fur. If you touch it, or frighten 

 it in any way, it at once drops to the ground and 

 curls itself up into a ring ; and then you notice 

 a number of black bands round its body, which 

 are really formed by the dark skin showing 

 through the fur. 



Early in June this caterpillar spins a dark 

 brown cocoon and changes to a brown chrysalis, 

 out of which the moth hatches about a fortnight 

 or three weeks later. 



