Bombyx Phaeorrhaea

Brown-tailed moth. M. Kollar states that - "According to Curtis, the caterpillar of the brown-tailed moth is found on the hawthorn and oak most plentifully; elm very plentifully; most fruit trees the same; blackthorn plentifully; rose-trees the same; on the willow and poplar scarce. None have been noticed on the elder, walnut, ash, fir, or herbaceous plants. With respect to fruit trees, the injuries they sustain are most serious, as in destroying the blossoms as yet in the bud, they also destroy the fruit in embryo; the owners of orchards, therefore, have great reason to be alarmed.

"This moth is so closely related to the yellow-tailed moth, and its habits so similar, that the means suggested for the destruction of the one may be advantageously adopted for the other.

"In the month of June, when almost full grown, this caterpillar measures nearly two inches, and is of the thickness of a very thick quill; it is very juicy, of a yellowish-green colour, with black tubercles, each of which bears a single hair, and has three pale yellow stripes, running longitudinally; the middle one extending rather broadly along the back. It has a small bluish head, with two black round spots on it.

"At the time of pupation, these caterpillars repair to the stems of the trees, or to walls and hedges, where they make for themselves cases of moss, lime-dust, and small chips of wood, oval on the upper side, and flat below, in which they do not become pupae till the third week. The pupa is small, cylindrical, reddish-brown, dull in some degree, powdered with blue." - Kollar.

Bombyx Antiqua, Vapourer, Or Brown Tussock Moth

This moth appears from August to October. Mr. Curtis informs us that - "The males then fly about in pursuit of their consorts, who are destitute of wings, and after depositing a large number of eggs, fall down exhausted and die. These eggs are somewhat ovate, depressed, and hollow on the crown, round which is a brown ring. They are of a pinky-white colour, and are fastened as they are laid, by a glutinous substance, to the bark of the tree, or whatever the parent happens to rest upon, frequently to the web containing the shell of the pupa; they are hatched the following April, when the larvae attack a great variety of trees, feeding upon the leaves of roses, brambles, the apple, plum, sloe, hawthorn, oak, lime, alder, and sallow. The caterpillars often do considerable mischief to the rose-trees, by eating large holes in the leaves; and, keeping on the under sides, they are seldom visible until they are full-grown, when they are often an inch in length, and ramble about to select some suitable crevice in the bark of a tree or other secure place to spin their fine white silken web, strengthened and protected with the different hairs from their own bodies; in this web they chancre to pitch colour, and rather hairy chrysalides, from whence the moths are produced at various periods." - Gard. Chron.