THE NOCTUM 263 



The caterpillar is green and velvety, with a whitish stripe on 

 the side, and yellow spiracles. It feeds on willow {Salix alba) 

 and sallow [Salix caprea) ; and when full grown, about the end 

 of June, it spins a white silken cocoon between leaves of its tree, 

 and changes to a very dark chrysalis. 



Family— Plusiid.e 



The most peculiar feature of the moths of this family is the 

 tufts of hair that stand up perpendicularly' on the top of the thorax. 

 The abdomen also is rested, and the fore wings of several species 

 have smooth patches that display a brilliant metallic lustre. 



Most of the larvae maj' be described as semi-loopers, for their 

 claspers number only three pairs, and when they walk their backs 

 are considerably humped, somewhat after the fashion of the Geo- 

 metv(P. Some of them further imitate the Geometrce in their 

 position of rest, holding on by their claspers only, with body 

 straightened out at an angle with the leaf or twig on which they 

 support themselves. 



Unlike the majority of the Noctncr, they do not descend to the 

 ground when about to change, but spin a silken cocoon among the 

 food plants, 



Tlie Bnrnii^lied Brass [Phisia, CJirijsltis) 



One of the commonest of the Plusiidcc is the Burnished Brass, 

 so called on account of the large patches of bright golden green on 

 the fore wings. The hind margin of these wings is very gracefully 

 curved, and bordered with brown. A 

 brown blotch fills the base of the wing, 

 and the remaining area is of a beautiful 

 metallic greenish yellow, broken by 

 two large brown blotches, one on the 

 costal and the other on the inner mar- 

 gin, which closely approach each other 

 and sometimes meet. Fig. 174. — The Burnished 



This motli is very common every- Brass. 



where, and is one of the frequent 

 visitors to oiu' flower gardens from June to August. 



The caterpillar is thickest at the twelfth segment, and tapers 

 from this point. Its colour is pale green. It has no longitudinal 

 stripes on the back, but each segment is adorned with four or six 



