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THE TUSSOCK MOTH 
harmonise with his delicate and brilliant markings* 
His head is a bright coral red, and there are dainty 
touches and spots of the same colour on his back. 
All these pretty and attractive patterns are combined 
on an energetic and voracious little creeper about an 
inch long, yet we generally admire it with our hands 
folded behind our backs. Animals and birds invite 
a caressing touch, but it requires the intimacy of a 
perfect understanding to handle with kindness the 
ephemeral representatives of the insect world, how- 
ever beautiful they may be in form and colour. 
These bristling and decorated larvae have 
almost entirely disappeared, and some of them 
have reincarnated in forms strangely different and 
unrecognisable. During their six or eight weeks of 
active larval existence they crawled about and feasted 
on the leaves of the Horse-chestnut, their favourite 
tree. Though manifesting a strong preference, they 
do not entirely reject other foliage. As crawling is 
their only means of locomotion, they are not extensive 
travellers. A few drop from the branches to the 
ground, thus circumventing the schemes of those who 
would restrict them with metal bands and other 
devices. Others remain lazily in the tops of the trees, 
showing no inclination to travel. Wherever they go 
they are beset by parasites which lay eggs in their 
soft, tender flesh. These hatch into minute destructive 
larvae that sap the vitality of the doomed protectors 
