Tent Caterpillars. 



larvae of this family are hairy, but they never have tufts of 

 Tiair, as is seen in the Orygias, or Tussock Moths. The 

 genus Clisiocampa, to which the Lackey Moth belongs, is 

 •characterised by having the male antennae pectinated, and 

 the female ciliated, and the abdomen of the female stout and 

 pointed. All the members of this genus pupate in a cocoon 

 spun amongst the food plant, the silk having mixed with it 

 a quantity of yellow powder. 



The Lackey Moth [C. neustria) is widely distributed over 

 the south, west, and middle of England, but is by far more 

 abundant and destructive in the south and west than in other 

 parts. It does not occur further north than York, where it is 

 aisually rare. Always more or less prevalent in the south, at 

 'certain times it occurs in greater abundance, and 

 apple and pear orchards are sometimes stripped of every 

 vestige of foliage by the caterpillars. It is more 

 abundant in France than elsewhere ; and there are French 

 laws compelling growers to cut off and destroy the "tents'' 

 formed by the larvae. Gue>in Meneville states that it 

 ;is one of the most injurious fruit and forest pests in France. 

 ]Kollar gives an account of it, and says that it is troublesome 

 )in Germany. 



The moth is very variable in colour and size, and measures 

 about an inch in expanse of wings in the in ale, an d an inch 

 and a half in the female. The fore wings are a rusty reddish- 

 brown, yellowish-brown, ochreous or brick-dust red, with 

 two pale or dusky-brown transverse lines across them, the 

 space between the two bars being often more deeply 

 • coloured than the rest of the wing ; the hind wings are the 

 same tint as the fore, but often a little paler; the thorax and 

 abdomen are densely scaly. The adult may be taken on the 

 -wing at dusk in July and August, and even as late as 

 September. 



The eggs are deposited by the female in rings on the 

 smaller shoots of the fruit trees, each band containing from 

 forty to over two hundred eggs. These bands remain on 

 the trees all the winter. When the wood shrinks they can be 

 turned round and round with ease. Being greyish-brown 

 :in colour, the ova are readily seen on the dark ground 



