56 
A. COTTAM-NOTES ON THE HABITS 
a pupa. It has immensely powerful jaws, and Mr. Barrett 
mentions a case of a larva of this moth having been shut up in 
a wooden cigar-box and placed on the top of a pianoforte; being- 
left there, it gnawed its way through the bottom of the box and 
through the polished wood of the instrument, and escaped. 
Another wood-feeding larva is that of the wood leopard moth, 
which feeds in various fruit-trees and in the wood of the white 
poplar. It is less like a maggot than most of the internal feeders ; 
it is yellow, covered with black spots. The larva is much more 
common than the moth, which is comparatively rarely taken in the 
country, hut more often in towns. The reason for this is that the 
larva is a very favourite food of the woodpeckers, which dig it out 
of the tree in which it is feeding, and as there are no woodpeckers 
in towns, the insect is there able to complete its transformations. 
Euston Square, where there are a good many white poplars, is a 
well-known locality for this moth, and it is often taken at Ealing. 
The larva is common in gardens and orchards in the neighbourhood 
of "Watford, and has often been brought to me, but I have not 
seen the moth. 
This group contains many brilliant and beautiful insects; the 
various tiger-moths, the eggars, and the emperor may be 
mentioned. 
With reference to the last-named, I may mention a peculiarity in 
the development of the wings. This process is one which I have 
not before described, but it is carried out by all Lepidoptera in 
much the same way. When the imago emerges from the pupa- 
case, the wings are very small and are folded close against the 
body; they are soft, and the scales are all standing on their edges. 
The insect at once climbs up to some projecting twig or other place, 
which enables it to let the wings hang down vertically. It then 
forces the juices out of its body into the veins or nervures of the 
wings, which are hollow; the wings gradually expand, and when 
fully expanded get dry and firm, the scales now being laid down 
upon their surface. When the wings are quite dry and stiff the 
insect can use them for flight. 
The cocoon of the emperor-moth is in the shape of a flask, and 
is made of strong inelastic silk. The neck of the flask through 
which the imago has to escape is very small compared with the 
size of the insect, and it will not stretch at all. The moth has to 
force its way, apparently with great difficulty, through the narrow 
opening, and the pressure upon its abdomen appears to be necessary 
to enable it to force the juices into the wing-nervures and so to 
expand them. A lady once, watching the process, thought to release 
the moth from its difficulties by carefully cutting open the neck of 
the flask, but the result was that the insect was unable to develop 
its wings, and was a cripple unable to fly. The lady said it seemed 
to her an excellent illustration of a creature being 1 ‘ made perfect 
through suffering.” 
Many of the larvae of moths in this group are ornamented with 
tufts of bright-coloured hairs, or are entirely covered with them. 
