Lepidoptera The Puss Moth – Dicranura Vinula
No written description is necessary in this case, the illustration easily serving for identification. This beautiful moth flies in May and June, and is common everywhere.
The caterpillar is a very interesting creature. It is green, with a hump on the fourth segment, and a patch of brown from the fourth segment to the tail. This patch is very wide on the eighth segment, but tapers to a point on the thirteenth. The two horns are rather long and rough, and from each of them a very slender pink filament is protruded when the caterpillar is irritated.
It constructs a cocoon very similar to that of Bifida, though of course larger, on the bark of the tree on which it fed, generally three or four feet from the ground. It feeds on sallows, willows, and poplars, and may be found during July and August.