. The book of the garden. Gardening. RED-FOOTED GO.^T niOTH AND CATERPILLAR. - The goat moth, fig. 198, (Bcymhyx liijniperda, Colsus Ugniperda Liunfeus, Fabricius, and others,) is not only one of the largest native species belonging to the Lepidopterous order, but also, one of the most destructive to some of our timber and fruit trees, and is not unfrequently discovered in the interior of old pear-trees, where it excavates for itself a .habitation in the solid timber. It is a nocturnal-flying moth, and from its great size is easily captured in a gauze net. As many as one thousand eggs
. The book of the garden. Gardening. RED-FOOTED GO.^T niOTH AND CATERPILLAR. - The goat moth, fig. 198, (Bcymhyx liijniperda, Colsus Ugniperda Liunfeus, Fabricius, and others,) is not only one of the largest native species belonging to the Lepidopterous order, but also, one of the most destructive to some of our timber and fruit trees, and is not unfrequently discovered in the interior of old pear-trees, where it excavates for itself a .habitation in the solid timber. It is a nocturnal-flying moth, and from its great size is easily captured in a gauze net. As many as one thousand eggs have been discovered in the body of a single female, which leads to the conclusion that its natural enemies must be both powerful and many; for so destructive an insect, if allowed to mul- tiply unrestrained, would soon spread desolation in our fruit gardens and forests. The perfect insect measures from 2| to nearly 3 inches from point to point of its fore wings, which are of an ashy-brown colour, shaded with dark brown, especially across the middle, marked with many irregular transverse streaks in the form of irregular network. The hind wings are brown, the reticulations being marked with somewhat obscure lines. The thorax is ochre- coloured in front, palish in the middle, with a black bar behind. The female is larger than the male. It sits quietly during the day, and is with diifioulty discovered on account of its gene- ral colour resembling the bark of the tree. The aiitenuEe have a light-grey shaft and black rays, and are more strongly feathered in the male than in the female. The caterpillar, when fully grown, is nearly 4 inches long, and as thick as a man's finger, of a dull yellowish hue, with dark chest- nut-coloured scales on the back of each ring of the body. The body is smooth and shining, having only a few short scattered hairs upon It is dark red on the back, and the spiracles at the sides are of the same colour. The head is black. The caterpillar emits a str
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectgardening, bookyear18
