289 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 7, I860. 
THE WOOD-LEOPARD MOTH. 
(ZEUZEEA jESCUEI.) 
Fit/. 1.—The female moth, life size, with her ovipositor protruded. 
Fig. 2. 
Fig. 2 .—The caterpillar within the tunnel it works in the tree. The 
roundisli mass beneath the caterpillar is the woody dust it leaves behind, 
and of which it forms its cocoon. 
Fig. 3—The skin of the chrysalis, 
Ekom the end of June to the commencement of August, 
according to the temperature of the season, may be found clinging 
to trees, especially the Lime, that beautiful insect the Wood- 
leopard Moth (Zeuzera cesculi of some, and JBombyx or Cosms 
cesculi of others). Its specific name, from cbscuIus , a Horse- 
chestnut, is singularly inapplicable, as it frequents that tree less 
than any other. It is rvhite, covered with bluish-black spots, as 
represented in our drawing; the antennae short, tapering to a fine 
point. The female is fully twice as large as the male, often 
measuring nearly three inches across the expanded fore-wings. 
She is also easily distinguished from the male by having her 
antennae only woolly at their base, but at the upper part simple ; 
whereas the antennae of The male are feathered at the base on each 
side. The thorax is white and woolly, marked by six blue-black 
spots. She is furnished with a long ovipositor, or egg-depositor, 
admirably adapted for inserting her eggs in the cracks of the bark 
of trees, oft the wood of which the caterpillar feeds. To the 
Pear, Apple, Hazel, Walnut, Elm, Lime, and other trees, even 
the Holly, it is most destructive—burrowing holes into them, 
destroying their sap vessels, and forming reservoirs for wet to 
lodge in and promote decay. 
The caterpillar is white, tinged with yellow, and spotted with 
black ; its head being horny, with black patches upon it, and on 
the segment of the body next to it. Its length is about two 
inches when full grown. It is hatched in August, and attains its 
full size in the June following. It then enters the pupa state, 
becoming a reddish-brown chrysalis, in a cocoon formed of the 
dust of the wood which, as a caterpillar, it gnawed down in 
working its passage. From this cocoon, as already stated, the 
moth comes forth, either at the end of June or sometime between 
that and the beginning of August. 
The chrysalis is of a reddish-brown colour, and has a cylindrical 
longish body, the abdominal segments with transverse rows of 
small points directed backwards, by which it is enabled to push 
itself forward to the outlet when ready to assume its imago or 
i moth form. The head of the chrysalis is armed also with a 
1 short hard point, by which it opens a way to escape from the 
cocoon. Our fig. 3, for which, as well as for the other cuts, we are 
indebted to Mr. Westwood’s drawing in the “ Gardener’s Maga¬ 
zine of Botany,” represents a chrysalis-case from which the moth 
has escaped by a slit down the front part of the upper side, and 
by the head-piece becoming detached. 
This season the ravages of this insect have been unusually 
severe. Its attacks have not been confined to the Apple, Pear, 
and Thorn; but even the Holly and other trees have become its 
prey. In making its attacks it generally perforates a hole on the 
side of a branch, and eats its way upwards in a perpendicular 
direction, following the course of the pith ; but in a case we have 
seen exhibited by F. J. Graham, Esq., of Cranford, the insect, 
instead of taking at once a perpendicular course, ate its way all 
round a branch, keeping just under the surface of the bark and 
devouring the wood to such a depth that the limb was weakened 
and blown off by the wind. After making its horizontal circuit, 
it then worked its way perpendicularly in the ordinary way. 
We have been informed by Messrs. Fraser, of Lea Bridge 
Road, that the grubs of the Wood Leopard Moth have this season 
made great havoc among their fruit trees. They perforate a hole 
about six inches above the ground, and have bored their way up 
the centre of the stem, in some instances to the height of six feet; 
forming a perforated tube. In the Horticultural Society’s 
Garden, at Chiswick, it has been detected, as well as in several 
other places about London. 
The way generally recommended for the destruction of this 
devastator, is to blow tobacco smoke into the holes. This might 
do very well in cases where the insect is near the orifice, and the 
i burrow is shallow; but in cases where it extends to the length of 
one, two, or three feet, it will be impossible to reach it by this 
mode. The only sure course which suggests itself is, to wait till 
the period in June when the grub has gone into the chrysalis state 
and its powers of further destructiveness have ceased, and then 
to plug up the holes. This will either suffocate it, or it will 
effectually prevent it from emerging, as in the imago state it 
is incapable of eating its way out. In this way the reproduction 
of that individual at least would be prevented. 
The common house sparrow is a great enemy of this moth ; and 
Mr. Westwood- relates, that a few years since it w'as no uncommon 
thing, and it may be so annually, to find many wings of this insect 
at the foot of the trees in St. James’s Park, the bodies having 
been devoured by the sparrows. 
CIDER AND APPLE ORCHARDS IN THE 
OLDEN TIME. 
Cider is now grown, to use a common expression, in great 
quantities in what is known as the cider country or cider counties. 
There the great part of the population drink nothing else. 
Devonshire, parts of Somersetshire, Worcestershire, and Here¬ 
fordshire, are pre-eminently cider counties. 
The early use of a drink called cider, and the production of 
such immense quantities of that beverage, such as that of 10,000 
hogsheads in one parish—viz., Martock in Somersetshire, are twm 
distinct matters. 
Cider, without doubt, is of early origin, and is supposed to have 
been first known in Africa, as it is mentioned by Tertullian and 
Augustine, the two fathers. St. Jerome speaks of an inebriating 
liquor made of the juice of Apples. 
Biscay, long famed for its cider, received it, as is believed, from 
the Carthaginians. A full description of this beverage is given by 
Navagerus, in the journal of his embassy to the Emperor 
Charles Y. 
The ancient Britons, like other northern nations, may have 
