PUSS-MOTH. 
191 
tail is kept erect at the other extremity. Its 
threatening aspect has sometimes inspired most 
ludicrous notions of its power of doing mischief, as 
in the instance quoted by Dr. Shaw from a country 
newspaper, where it is described as a monster with 
a head like a lion, jaws like a shark, a hom like a 
imicom, and two tremendous stings in its tail. It 
is ornamented with very beautiful colours, which, 
however, vary considerably according to the age of 
the individual. The description of Isaac Walton is 
pretty nearly accurate : — “ The very colours of ca- 
terpillars,” says he, “ as one has observed, are 
elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a taste of the 
rest, describe one of them; which I will, some 
time the next month, shew you feeding on a willow 
tree ; and you shall fiud him punctually to answer 
this very description : his lips and mouth somewhat 
yellow; his eyes black as jet; his forehead pm-ple; 
his feet and hinder parts green ; his tail two-forked 
and black ; the tvhole body stained with a kind of 
red spots, which run along the neck and shoulder- 
blade, not unlike the form of St. Andrew’s cross, or 
the letter X made thus crosswise, and a white line 
drami down his hack to his tail ; all which add 
much beauty to his whole body. And it is to me 
observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives 
over to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered 
over Math a strange shell or crust, called an aurelia ; 
and so lives a kind of dead life without eating all 
the winter. And as others of several kinds turn to 
be several kinds of flies and vermin the spring 
