On the same plate, fig. 4 a, is shown the caterpillar of this moth, a creature conspicuous from the tufts of beautifully-coloured hair which are set on its body like camel-hair brushes.
The caterpillar spins for itself a silken nest wherein to pass its pupa state, and in general there is nothing remarkable about the nest. But I have one in my collection of insect habitations that is very curious.
I had caught, killed, and pinned out a large dragon-fly, and placed it in a cardboard box for a time. Some days afterwards, a palmer-worm had been captured, and was imprisoned in the same box. I was not aware that such a circumstance had happened, and so did not open the box for a week or two, when I expected to find the dragon-fly quite dry and ready for the cabinet.
When, however, the box was opened, a curious state of matters was disclosed. The caterpillar had not only spun its cocoon, but had shredded up the dragon-fly’s wings, and woven them into the substance of its cell. The glittering particles of the wing have a curious effect as they sparkle among the silver fibres.
On [plate D], fig. 3 a, is represented a creature whose sole claim to admiration is its domestic virtue, for elegance or beauty it has none. It hardly seems possible, but it is the fact, that this clumsy creature is the female Vapourer Moth, the male being represented immediately below fig. 3.
Why the two sexes should be so entirely different in aspect, it is not easy to understand. The female has only the smallest imaginable apologies for wings, and during her whole lifetime never leaves her home, seeming to despise earth as she cannot attain air.
This moth is not obliged to form laboriously a warm habitation for her eggs, for she places them in a silken web which she occupied in her pupal state, and from which she never travels.
Curiously enough, her eggs are not placed within the hollow of the cocoon as might be supposed, but are scattered irregularly and apparently at random over its surface. Even there, though, they are warm enough, for the cocoon itself is generally placed in a sheltered spot, so that the eggs are guarded from the undue influence of the elements, and at the same time protected from too rapid changes of temperature.
In the hot summer months, the leaves of trees are crowded with insects of various kinds, which fly out in alarm when the branches are sharply struck. Oak trees are especially insect-haunted, and mostly by one species of moth, a figure which is given on [plate B], fig. 1.
This little moth is a pretty object to the eyes, but a terrible destructive creature when in its caterpillar state, compensating for its diminutive size by its collective numbers. The caterpillar is one of those called “Leaf-Rollers,” because they roll up the leaves on which they feed, and take up their habitation within.