CHAPTER IV 



AQUATIC CATERPILLARS 



AMONG the commonest of Moths are some small, 

 delicately marked species which abound in the 

 neighbourhood of ponds, lakes and marshes. The 

 patterns on their wings have suggested the popular 

 name of China Marks. One of the species so des- 

 ignated has in its first stage the habits of an ordinary 

 caterpillar. It feeds upon the Elder, and is common 

 in gardens. Other species feed upon the leaves of 

 water plants, and are in various degrees adapted to 

 an aquatic life. We owe to Reaumur the first 

 mention of an aquatic caterpillar, that of Hydro- 

 campa nymphseata, from which is bred the Brown 

 China Marks Moth. He visited, about the middle 

 of June, a pond covered with the floating leaves of 

 Potamogeton natans, and found that the plants 

 harboured numerous larvae, which fed upon the leaves, 

 and also used them as a means of concealment. In 

 some cases a small bit of the leaf was bitten out to 

 an oval shape, and fastened by silk threads to another 

 part of the leaf, forming a flattish lens-shaped prom- 

 inence. In most cases, however, both leaves were 



