Volume 14, Plate XV / Entomology (Insects)

Wood Leopard-Moth & Buff-Tip Moth

Zeuzera Æsculi & Pygæra Bucephala

1. & 2. Wood Leopard-Moth. A beautiful snowy-white species, the wings sparingly scaled with yellowish nervures and thickly sprinkled with dark-blue spots largest in the female, the hinder wings white at the inner angle with a marginal row of spots, the male expanding about two inches and the female frequently more. The light-yellow caterpillar, with black spots and a wedge-shaped head, lives in the interior of trees, the moth emerging in July, not frequent though found in many places including near London.
3. Buff-Tip Moth. Named for the large buff patch on the forewing apex, expanding about two and a half inches, the light-brown forewings powdered with silvery scales bear a rounded yellow apical spot bounded by rust lines, with the under wings yellowish-white and the thorax ochrey-yellow ringed with rust-red. The gregarious caterpillars, yellow with black stripes, consume elm, beech, oak, lime, and willow leaves, often quickly stripping a tree, this insect abundant near London and much of England but scarcer in Scotland.