LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. 29 
thick, covered with scales; antenne setaceous, 
as long as the head and trunk, with a series of 
short transverse and obtuse dentations along the 
interior side ; wings inclined. 
The caterpillars of this genus are very prejudicial to trees, 
gnawing the roots, and even their substance. Preparatory to 
undergoing their change into the chrysalis state, they construct 
a cocoon with earth, or the fragments of the substances which 
they gnaw. ‘These we have more particularly described at 
page 107, vol. ii, and given a representation of a nest of the 
Earth Mason Caterpillar, the Water Betony Moth.™ 
Some of the caterpillars of this family present remarkable 
forms, as that of the Puss Moth, Cerwa Vinula, and another 
called the Lobster by collectors, which is the larva of the 
Stauropus Fagi of Germar, This curious species is some- 
times, although rarely, found in Britain. This larva, unlike 
almost all the rest of its tribe, has very long legs, and assumes 
an attitude somewhat like that of the larva of the Puss Moth, 
with its tail cocked up, and its head and feet erected in the 
manner of a person praying. The following is a representa- 
tion of this remarkable larva ; 
* Vol. ii. page 101. First Edition, 
