THE GIPSY-MOTH . 
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was not acquainted with it. The apparently forced and strange attitude in which this cater- 
pillar is represented is that which it assumes when at rest. The second and third pair of legs 
are much elongated. The moth itself displays no very notable points of structure except the 
raised tufts on the disc of the fore wings. 
The well-known Tiger-moth ( Arctia caja ), with its red and brown coloring, is a well- 
known example of this family, and its caterpillar is no less familiar under the name of Woolly 
Bear. This is a very harmless creature, feeding almost wholly on the dead nettle, but some 
of its allies are terrible plagues to the agriculturist, or even to the country at large, having 
been known to inflict serious damage to crops, and in some parts of Germany even to strip 
whole forests of their foliage. 
One of these insects, called the Vaporer-moth ( Orgyiaantiqua ), is especially remarkable 
for the strange contrast between the sexes, the male being a wide-winged moth of the ordinary 
kind, and the female a fat grub-like creature with hardly a vestige of wing, and scarcely 
GIPSY-MOTH .— Hypogymna dispar . 
stirring from the spot on which it is placed. The well-known Puss-moth ( Cerura mnula), 
so called because its markings bear some resemblance to those of a tabby cat, belongs to this 
family. The caterpillar of this moth is a handsomely colored creature, remarkable for the 
odd, sphinx-like attitude which it assumes when at rest, the pink St. Andrew’s cross which is 
drawn over the back, and the forked appendage at the extremity of the body, from which 
a pair of long and delicate filaments can be thrust or withdrawn at pleasure. This caterpillar 
constructs a cocoon of wonderful strength, composed of bits of wood cemented together, 
and of such hardness that a penknife cannot penetrate it without risk of being snapped in the 
attempt. 
As may be seen by reference to the engraving, the Gipsy-motti differs much in its coloring, 
according to the sex, the male being blackish-brown and the female grayish- white. The 
upper wings of both sexes are marked with four waved transverse bands of moderately light 
brown, and a dark brown mark near the middle of the front edge like the letter V, inside of 
which is a blackish spot. On the European Continent this moth is very abundant, and the 
caterpillar is often extremely injurious to the trees. 
