302 THE BIOLOGY OF INSECTS 



burrows \^ithin the timber of trees. All these live in sur- 

 roundings where they are to a great extent protected from 

 extreme atmospheric cold. 



Some Lepidoptera pass the winter in the first stage 

 after hatching. The white-winged black-spotted Small 

 Ermine Moths (Hyponomeuta), that emerge about July from 

 the cocoons among the masses of web on hawthorn bushes, 

 where the caterpillars fed through spring and early summer, 

 lay on the twigs their flattened eggs covering them with a 

 gummy secretion which hardens to form a delicate but 

 firm protective film. Beneath this the caterpillars are 

 hatched from their eggs, and remain sheltered throughout 

 the autumn and winter, coming out in spring to feed on 

 the young foliage and spin their collective web of silk over 

 the branches. The conspicuous cream and yellow, black- 

 spotted ^lagpie Moth (Abraxas grossulariata) is on the wing 

 about the same time of year as Hyponomeuta, and the 

 females lay eggs on a great variety of shrubs ; the cater- 

 pillars are well known devourers of gooseberry and currant 

 leaves in fruit-gardens. The young caterpillars, though 

 hatched at a season when there are still many leaves on the 

 bushes, do not feed, but seek almost at once for winter- 

 shelters such as rolled-up leaves, crannies of bark, or cracks 

 in walls, where they remain until the onset of spring incites 

 them to come out and begin their voracious feeding on the 

 foliage, as a result of which they pass through their successive 

 larval stages and become fully fed in about a couple of 

 months. Another familiar and conspicuous garden insect, 

 the Tiger Moth [Arctia caia) hibernates as a half-gro\^-n 

 caterpillar. The brilliantly winged adults lay their eggs in 

 July and August ; the newly hatched larvae begin im- 

 mediately to feed and undergo one or two moults before 

 the winter. In spring they begin to feed again and the full- 

 grown *' woolly bear " or " hsiiry oubit " is often seen in 

 May or June crawling on garden paths. The hair)' clothing 

 of this and other insects that survive the winter as larvae may 

 probably be regarded as of protective value against cold 

 conditions. The big hairy caterpillar of the Fox Moth 



