Gipsy Moth
(Liparis dispar). The specific name of this insect is derived from the fact that there is great disparity in the sexes. The male (Fig. 106) is dark brown or smoky, with zigzag darker markings and lighter shades; the antennae are like feathers. The female (Fig. 107) is larger than the wings are dingy or yellowish-white, with darker markings, as in the male, and a distinct black mark < near the centre of the fore wing; the antennae are simple. In both sexes the fringes are pale, with dark interspersions at the end of the wing-rays. The caterpillar is black, with yellowish marking, and a grey line down the back. Each segment has six tubercles, all emitting bristly hairs, black on the back and brown on the sides. It is believed that the Gipsy Moth is almost, if not quite, extinct as a British species; but, upon the Continent, the larvae occasionally do considerable damage to fruit-trees by stripping them of their leaves. They may be collected by beating the branches over an inverted umbrella.