Larva of the Lobbter Moth {Stauropus fagi).

26o THE INSECT WORLD.

We give representations of some of the species of this group: * Noctua tegamoti, Fig. 248; Nodua mbulosa^ Fig. 249; Noctua inusiva,

Fig. 248.— Noctua tegamon.

Fig. 249. — Noctua nebulosa.

Fig. 250; Noctua brunnea, Fig. 251; Catocala fraxuii, Fig. 252; Catocala Americana^ Fig. 253; Catocaia paranymp/ui, Fig. 254;

In England it numbers about three hundred species. The larviv • are of diverse habits, but the majority feed on low plants; the moths are provided with a trunk, and are very partial to bwects. —Ed.

Catocala nupta, Fig. 255, the Red Underwing; and Erebus strix. Fig. 256. The bodies of these moths are robust and sometimes massive,

Fig. 250. — Noctua mnsiva.

Fig. 251. — Noctua brunnea.I

and are scaly rather than woolly. The thorax is sometimes bristling with hairy tufts. This genus includes 800 species, of which there are about 300 in France. The caterpillars of the Noctuina are smooth or

Fig. 252. — Catocala fraxini.

Fig- 253.— Catocala Americana.

} very slightly covered with hair, usually of a pale colour, and live on low plants, of which they devour, some the leaves, others the roots;

LliPIDOPTERA.

Fig. 254. — Catocala paranympha.

Fig. 255. — Catocala nupta.

then it is they are most destructive to agriculture. There are some of them which eat any caterpillars they may chance to meet,

and even those of their own species, leaving nothing but the skin. Some of them surround themselves with a Hght cocoon before becoming chrysahdes; others bury themselves in soft, well-pulverised soil.

The family of Geom^trmcB^ oi Geometers," comprises moths of a

Fig. 256. —Erebus strix.

middling size, and usually flying after sunset and during the night.* They frequent the alleys of damp woods, where they become the prey of the Libelhil(e\ and other carnivorous insects. Their bodies and abdomens are slender, their wings large, thin, fragile, often of a dark colour, with brilliant markings.

The caterpillars of the Geoinetrince are known by the name of I loopers or geometers. We have previously described their singular

■* A few species fly in bright sunshine. — Eu. t Dragon-flies. — Ed.

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265

organisation. They are continually spinning a silken thread, which keeps them attached to the plant on which they live. If you touch the leaf which supports them they immediately let themselves fall.

“Nevertheless, they do not generally fall to the ground,” says Réaumur; “there is a cord ready to support them in the air (Fig. 257), and a cord which they can lengthen as they will; this cord is

Fig. 257.—Looper hanging by its thread.

Fig. 258.—Seen at the side.

Fig. 259.—Front view.

Figs. 260 and 261.—Remounting its thread.

only a very thin thread, but has nevertheless strength enough to support the caterpillar (Figs. 258, 259). All that one seems to fear is, that the thread may lengthen too quickly and the caterpillar fall, rather than descend gently, to the ground. But what we must first remark and admire is, that the caterpillar is mistress of its movements, and is not obliged to descend too quickly; it descends by stages; it stops in the air when it pleases. Generally it only descends at most about one foot at a time, and sometimes only half a foot or a few inches, after which it makes a pause more or less long, as it pleases.”

66*

It is in this way that the caterpillars let themselves fall from the top of the highest trees: they remount again with no less ease.

Let us listen to Reaumur's description of the means employed by this caterpillar to ascend these heights. Figs. 260 and 261, drawn,

as the three preceding ones, from the plates in Reaumur's Memoir, help us to follow the explanation given by the illustrious naturalist of the evolutions of our little acrobat:— " To remount," says Reaumur, " the caterpillar seizes the thread between its jaws, as high up as it can; as soon as it has done this it twists its head round, lays it over on one side, and continues to do so more and more every moment Its head seems to descend below the last of the scaly legs which are on the same side as that to which it is inclined. The truth is, however, that it is not its head which descends, the part of the thread which it holds between its jaws is a fixed point for its head and for the rest of its body; it is that portion of the back corresponding with its scaly legs which the caterpillar twists upwards; the consequence isthat the scaly legs and that part of the body to which they belong then ascend. When the last pair of legs is just over the jaws of the caterpillar, one leg, viz., that which is on the side towards which the head is incHned, seizes the thread and brings it over to the corresponding leg on the other side, which is advanced to receive it. If the head is then raised, which is done immediately, it is in order that it may seize the thread at a higher point than that at which it was caught at first; or, which is the same thing, the head, and consequently the whole body of the caterpillar, is found to have ascended to a height equal to the length of the thread which is between the place where its jaws seized it the first time and that where they seized it the second time. The first move in the upward direction is thus made, and the second soon follows.... If you were to seize the caterpillar on its arrival at the end of its upward journey, you would see a packet of threads huddled together between the four hindmost of the scaly legs. The greater the height ascended the greater is the size of this packet. All the turns of the thread which compose it are entangled. So the caterpillar does not consider it of any value. As soon as the insect can walk it gets rid of the mass, sets its legs free, and leaves it behind before one or at most two steps have been taken. The cord is wasted on each ascent, but the caterpillar can afford to lose as many as it likes, for it has in itself the source of the matter necessary for the composition of the thread, and it is a source from which that which was drawn off is being continually re-supplied. Moreover, spinning the thread costs the caterpillars but little; indeed, the loopers economise

LEPIDOPTERA,

this thread so badly that most of them leave it behind them wherever they go." They are found on many trees, but particularly on the oak, the foliage of which they often entirely ^^_^^-=. _ ^. devour. They burrow into the ground to change into chrysalides, and undergo all their metamorphoses in the course of the year. Others do not become perfect insects till the autumn, or sometimes not even till the following spring. A few assume the perfect state in winter. There are, indeed, some of these, such as the males of the Hybernias (Figs. 262, 263), which fly about on the foggy evenings of November. The females of this

Fig. 262.— Hybernia leucophearia, male. genus have either no wings at all, or else only rudimentary ones. Two species, the Hybernia defoltaria, or Winter Moth (Figs. 263, 264), and the Chimatobia brumata (Figs. 265, 266), abundant in England, are very common near Paris.

M. Maurice Girard says, in his work on the metamorphoses of

Fig. 263. — Winter Moth (^Hybernia Fig, 264. — Winter Moth [Hybernia defoliaria), male. defoliaria), female.

insects, that the females of these moths can easily be found at the beginning of November, in a very strange place, namely, on the gas Ilamps of the public promenades; for instance, along the roads in the Bois de Boulogne. No doubt they had climbed up to this height, ilattracted by the light, or perhaps had been carried thither by the

|males, which fly, having wings.

In February and March appear other analogous species. " We may find/' says M. Maurice Girard, "near Paris, in the meadows which surround the confluence of the Seine and the Mame, at the

end of the month of March, the Nyssia zoiiaria (Fig. 267), the males of which insect remain during the day motionless on the grass."*

There are some species of this family in which the wings of the

Fig. 265. Chlmatobia bnimata, male. Fig. 266. — Chimatobia bruniata, female.

females are developed like those of the males.t Such are the Peppered Moth {Amphidasis hetularia) and the Currant Moth

Fig. 267. — Nyssia zonaria, male and female.

{Abraxas grossulariatd), whose caterpillar lives on the red currant and gooseberrv, and an immense number known as Thorns, Carpets Waves, &c. The section of the Pyralina contains the smallest nocturnal

In England this insect has a very limited range, being found only at New Brighton, near Birkenhead, where it is most abundant. — Ed. f The exception is with those in which the wings are not developed in both cases, and in England this peculiarity is confined to species appearing diTMig the winter and early.spring. — Ed,

Fig. 267. — Nyssia zonaria, male and female.

LEPIDOPTERA,

Lepidoptera, and nearly all those tiny species which flutter round our lights in the evening. Here are some drawings of a few of the numerous species of this section, remarkable for their small size and beauty:— Penthiiia

Fig. 268. — Penthina pruniana.

priiniaiia, ^dia pusiella, Xylopoda fabriciana^ Foedisca autumtiana^ Tortrix roborana, Philobacera fagana, Toririx sorbiana, Aiitithesia

Fig. 269.—.^dia pusiella. Fig. 270.— Xylopoda fabriciana.

saiicana, Poedisca occultana^ Argyrolepia cejieana, Sericoris Zmkemina^ Sarrothripa rev ay ana, Cocky lis francilana, C ho mites dolosana (Figs. 268 to 281).'^

Many of these are placed by some authors among the Pyralina, and by others among the Tortricina. — Ed.

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