rusty red hue, in the place of the gold-green which formerly

adorned them. In such a case, the only plan is to saturate the j insect with benzole, by dropping it on the thorax, and, when it

To the same pretty genus and a half, pin the insect under the about an inch belong several other well-known

is completely steeped, even to the tips of the wings’ in that I window

useful but mal-odorous liquid, to let it dry in a strong j draught. The most effective mode of doing this is to open a

window, and then leave the door open. In the winter time,

the fire will cause sufficient draught. The Moth should be

fixed with its head pointing to the interior of the room, so

that the in-rushing air may blow up the downy plumage of the

body and prevent it from being plastered down, as often is the

case if this precaution be not taken.

I Moths, such as the Silver Y {PLusia gamma), so easily recoo-- ! nised by the bright silver mark in the middle of the upper I ^ngs, closely resembling the English letter Y or the Greek I letter ramma. ^'o/^ TLqti +1-.^-..,^ ii, - n_ „

I I 2

If tli6 rGad.6r will refGr to oodcut XLVIII. on 449^ and Fig. 1, he will see a portrait of the well-known Herald , libatrix), our only British representative of ' ,j Moth {Gonopteryx Glonopteridae. the family

Even were not the colour of this insect so conspicuous, it i could at once be identified by the shape of its upper wings, i the hinder margins of which are deeply cut and scalloped, very : much like those of the Comma Butterfly, which has been de- ■ | on page 397. The colour of the upper wings is soft t scribed brown-grey, with a downy surface, and slightly powdered with rust-red. On the middle of the wing is a broad dash of bright rust-red reaching as far as the base, and having a tiny, but spot of pure white in its middle. Parallel with . conspicuous margin a whitish-grey line runs across the wing and i the hind has a narrow, pale brown streak accompanying it. The front thorax is furnished with a ruff of long, soft down, of ; of the the same rust-red as that of the wing. The rest of the body wings are greyish-brown. The caterpillar, which i and the lower is shown at Fig. a, is green, with a narrow grey streak along , It feeds on the Sallow, and when full-fed spins a i the sides. cocoon within two or three of the leaves, which it draws together with silk. of Herald is given to this Moth because '

The popular name end of autumn, and is supposed to be the ' it appears at the winter. Though feeding in the open air, , herald of the coming for the habitations of man, and i| it has a singular predilection to make its way into stables, outhouses, and even into , contrives that are inhabited. It is one of the commonest of tl>«?l houses window Moths, and often causes great consternation many who think that it has m among thrifty but ignorant housewives, of eating their woollen clothes, their furs, .. come for the pui’pose feathers, and that, as it is so much larger than the and their Moth, it will eat so much the more. Th«^

common Clothes refers to the bold

name of Gonoptera, or Angle-winged,

scalloping of the upper wings. that these Moths often make up their

Mr. Newman remarks almost immediately after they have passed

minds to hibernate and that in that case, when they have .

from the pupal shell, in the same spot until the fol- settled in a house, they remain of the time in a state o spring, passing the whole

lowing

torpidity.

Just as one group of Moths is popularly termed the Yellow

Underwings, so is another termed the Eed Underwings, the . ground colour of their lower wings being brilliant red. ’ The first of these splendid insects is the Eed Undeewing I {Gatocala nwpta\ which is represented on Woodcut XLVIII. I Fig. 2. This is one of the largest and handsomest of the group, : though its colours are not quite so brilliant as that of another : species which will be presently mentioned. “ The upper wings are grey with a slight yellowish tint, and i profusely covered with waved bars and other marks of black, I nearly every such mark being accompanied by a grey bar of f similar shape. The under wings are red, diversified with two E black bars, one, a very broad one, parallel to the hind margin, 1 and another, a comparatively narrow and much curved bar,

running across the middle of the wing. Beneath, the upper

wings are white, crossed by three broad black bars, and the lower wings are similarly coloured, but warming into light red towards i the inner margin, and having two bars across them, I The caterpillar is grey in colour, not unlike the hue of the ) upper wings of the perfect insect, and sometimes has two black 1 waved stripes on the back. I never saw this caterpillar, but I Mr. Newman’s account of its habits is so admirable that I I transfer it to these pages : — I ‘It feeds on the Crack Willow and, when i closely adherent to the bark, is almost impossible to detect. I ’ have sometimes found it by passing my hand gently over the ! surface of the bark about a foot below the branches of a pollard I willow, when its cold, soft feel at once betrayed it. It spins a i network cocoon among the leaves, or in a crevice of the bark about Midsummer, and changes to a smooth chrysalis covered ■ with a purple bloom.’

The perfect insect appears about August ; and, though it , may be common, it is not often seen, owing to its mode of N concealment. It carries into its perfect state one of its cateri'l pillar habits, and has a way of settling on the trunks of willow : trees and closing its wings. In this position the splendid red l ender wings are completely hidden by the sombrely tinted P'upper pair, which so exactly resemble the colour of the bark r that, even when the Moth is pointed out, very few can dis- ^ tinguish it. I well remember the first time of discovering one

of these beautiful Moths. I was going to bathe in the river Cherwell, near Oxford, a river which is bordered with willows. I happened to place my hand on the trunk of one of the willows, when out bounced a grand Red Underwing, startling me as much as a novice in shooting is startled by his first pheasant, I afterwards found that the Moths were tolerably plentiful upon these trees.

The generic name Catocala is formed from the Greek, and signifies something which is beautiful beneath. The name has been given to these insects because their chief beauty lies in the under wings, which are hidden beneath the upper pair when the Moth is at rest.

On the Frontispiece may be seen a portrait of a smaller but richly coloured species, called the Light Crimson Undeumore wiNG {Catocala promissa).

In this fine Moth, the upper wings are coloured much like of the preceding species, but the marblings are much those and more clearly defined, and on the middle of the wing richer there is a decided ochreous tinge. There is considerable the aforesaid markings. The gi’ound colour of variation in wings is crimson, with a very broad black baud . the lower margin, and a narrow band crossing the ■ following the hind and almost angular in its form. middle, feeds on the oak, and is greenish-grey in colour, .

The caterpillar of a warmer hue. ‘ It is full-fed m : and covered with tubercles spins a web among the leaves, appearing as a perfect June, and month or so. This is not nearly so common an insect in a but has been found in most of insect as the Red Underwing, of England, the New Forest being noted the southern counties as its best locality. _ , , • i , insect which is so

To the same genus belongs that magnificent and so very rare in England, the Clifde-N very common in France This Moth can at once be Nonpareil {Catocala fraxini). size and the colour of its under wiug^ recognised by its superior with a broad band of bluish grey draivn throng which are black, It is believed by many practical entomologists their centre. rightly belong to Eng and b„t that this insect does not have been taken within le those few specimens which bloivn across the Channel fio of onv island have been legitimate home in France.

CHAPTER V.

Deltoides, Eyralides, And Crambite8.

I YERT much regret that there should be no simpler words which can he substituted for those which head this chapter. There are, however, none whatever, so we must be content to use the terms which are adopted by the best entomologists of the time. Indeed, the only group of which it is even possible to form a simple English word which fully expresses the character of the insects, is the first, which literally signifies Delta-like, and may be freely translated as Delta-Moths, because when the insects are at rest, their wings assume a shape which bears some resemblance to the Grreek letter Delta (A). All the above-mentioned insects are small, but the number of species is enormous, for they reckon among their ranks more species than all the groups which have heretofore been described. As is the case with the Noctuse, the Moths of each group bear a great resemblance to each other, and much afflict the mind of the collector by their prevailing similitude. At first, the collector finds himself utterly bewildered, when brought in contact with a number of these Moths, and a feeling of despair seizes upon him. He feels much as if a fiock of sheep were brought before him, and he were required to distinguish and name every animal. However, remembering that a good shepherd actually does know by sight every sheep in his flock, and that his eye can seize upon little I points of difference which are absolutely invisible to the uninitiated, he sets determinately to work, and after a little while feels that he is beginning to make his way.

First, after long and careful examination, he picks out one M‘ individual, and succeeds in finding the points in which it differs from its fellows. Having done this, he is able to refer it to its proper place in the list, and then finds but little difficulty in

picking out any otlier specimens that belong to the same species. Half his task is now over, and he is able in a comparatively short time to detect in the other Moths those distinctions which his predecessors have already noticed, and by means of which their species is ascertained. In fact, just as the above-mentioned shepherd learns to know by sight, and even by name, every member of a large flock of sheep, which to the eye of a stranger are exactly alike, so does the entomologist gain the power of seeing at once the differences that exist in insects which to an unaccustomed eye seem to have no marks of distinction at all.

One example of the Deltoides will be sufficient for our present purpose, and we will select the Banded ^mm{Hypena rostralis), which is represented in the central figure of Woodcut LVI.

This is one of the Moths which have received the popular name of Snouts on account of the extremely elongated palpi, which project in front of the head so as to look very much like The antennae of these insects are simple in the a proboscis. females and tufted in the males ; their bodies are slender and furnished with a tuft on the first segment.

Page 86 of 117