280 



COMMON BBITISH MOTHS 



taken for a butterfly. The ground colour of the wings is creamy 

 white, with a yellow transverse band, and a yellow blotch at the 

 base; and the whole surface is more or less blotched with black. 

 From the end of June to August this moth may be seen in 



abundance in our gardens, 

 wdierever cvtrrant biishes 

 exist, flying about both 

 during the siinshine and 

 at dusk, with rather a 

 heavy movement. 



The caterpillar is 

 white, with a yellow line 

 along the spiracles, and 

 numerous black dots. 

 There are, in addition to 

 the dots, two large black blotches on the back of each segment. 

 It feeds during May on currant and gooseberry bushes, also on 

 the blackthorn {Primus spinosa). About the end of May it spins 

 a light silken cocoon, and changes to a shoi't dumpy chrysalis of 

 a glossy black coloiu- with bright yellow bands (fig. 34). 



Fig. 191.— The CrnRAXT Moth. 



Family — Hyberniid.e 



Passing over the family Ligiidce, which contains only one 

 British moth, the Horse-chestnut, we come to the small but 

 interesting family, Hyberniidcc. 



Of this we have six species, five of which favour us during tlie 

 bleakest months of the year. Two of them visit us in October and 

 November, and even remain with us up to Christmas. The others 

 follow closely on them, and may be seen from January to March. 



The males have slender bodies, and their wings are full and 

 without angles ; but the females are either perfectly or nearly 

 wingless. In three cases there is hardly a trace of wings in this sex, 

 so that they look more like spiders than moths. 



The caterpillars are long and slender and without hum]is, and 

 all feed on the leaves of trees. They change to the chrysalis state 

 undert the "round. 



The Sjjring Usher [Hyhernia leucophcBaria) 



Early in February, and often even in January, this moth may be 

 seen in abundance in almost every oak wood, sitting on the bark of 



