MOTHS AND THEIR CATERPILLARS. 185 



our native Moths to seek it in works more especially 

 devoted to the subject.* 



The Caterpillar, Plate V. No. 1, is that of 

 Centra Vinula, the Puss-moth. It is a very re- 

 markable larva, both in form and colour, and at- 

 tracted the attention of many of our early natu- 

 ralists long before entomology existed as a science. 

 Old Isaac Walton, the accomplished angler, whose 

 biographies of George Herbert the well-known 

 poet, and others of his cotemporaries, are sufficient 

 proof that his taste and skill were not confined to a 

 successful exercise of the gentle craft of the rod 

 and line, has given in one of those charming little 

 outbursts of his love of Nature that occur con- 

 tinually in his book on angling, an elaborate de- 

 scription, exquisite in its nice perception of form 

 and colour, of this Caterpillar, the name of which 

 he did not know, but which is so faithfully described 

 that it is impossible to mistake it. 



Though so singular in form — the anal pro- 

 legs being absent and replaced by two curious tail- 

 like appendages — and also so remarkable by its 

 size and tinting, it is by no means rare ; indeed it 



* In my " Genera of British Motlis," now publishing in 

 monthly parts, by Mr. Jerrard, 171. Fleet Street, (lie young 

 student will probably find aJl the information he requires. 



