156 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



persons as altogether too insignificant to engage the serious 

 study of inteUigent men, a contemptuous ignorance of their 

 forms and habits may result not only in heavy financial loss, 

 but in rendering vast tracts of rich country uninhabitable by 

 man and his herds of domestic animals. Sir Harry Johnston 

 has shown, too, in this connection how the love of finery in 

 one part of the world may result in the infliction of untold 

 misery upon human beings in another part of the world, 

 for he has pointed out that the destruction of Insect- 

 eating African birds for the sake of their plumage has led 

 to the unchecked increase of the very flies that s])read 

 this dire disease. 



The Drinker and the Lappet. 



The drinker ^ is a fine moth much like the egger and 

 the fox moths, but with the fore-wings more pointed at 

 their tips, a diagonal dark line from the tip to the middle 

 of the hind-margin, and a couple of silvery-white spots near 

 the centre of the front margin. It flies 



Photo by] [H. Main, F.E.S. 



Eggs of the Drinker. 



The large eggs are laid in clus- 

 ters on thestcmsof grasses. In 



this group some have hatched, [^^ T yjy ^nd has a prefercncc for moist 



and tlie young caterpillars sJ j > ir 



havemadea first meal of the placcs, such as grccn lancs, marshcs, and 



egg-shells. At the bottom of -i ' o ' ' 



the cluster a caterpillar is 

 emerging" from the egg. Twice 

 the actual size. 



moorlands. The caterpillar is of goodly 

 proportions, about two and a quarter 

 inches long, of a dark slate colour on which are laid innumer- 

 able dots of yellow in lines. Its hairy covering is of three 

 or four kinds : along the back are two rows of tufted, short 

 black hairs and between them longer brown hairs ; along 

 the sides are shaggy locks of yellowish-white hanging down 

 and almost hiding the legs. Just behind the head stands 

 a pointed hair pencil, and a more bushy brush points back- 

 wards from the tail-end of the back. It may be found quite 

 small feeding on various coarse tall grasses from August to 

 October, and again of larger size from April to June. In 

 between these times it is enjoying a winter rest. About June 

 it may be seen spinning its long brown cocoon to a stout 

 grass stem. This is of peculiar form to suit the narrow 

 situation. It is broader in front (or the top end), which is 

 rounded, and tapers considerably to the lower end. The 

 chrysalis is brown. As already mentioned in the article on 

 eggers, the caterpillar is a thirsty creature and imbibes the 

 morning dew-drops, a fact that was observed more than two 

 centuries ago and led to its being named the drinker, whose 

 meaning is repeated in the Latin potatoria. 



Photo by] [H. Main, F.E.S. 



The Drinker-Cater- 

 pillar. 



'I'liis large hairy catrrpill.ir 

 feeds on grasses, and is brown 

 in colour with yellow stripes 



But the finest of our representatives of this familv is the tufts of hair are white, and on 



2 1 ,t .L -11 1 ,1 'I'l i "^ -11 • tlie back near each end is a 



both as caterpillar and moth, i he caterpillar is i)oiuted tuft of biacu hairs. 



lappet,^ both as caterpillar and moth. 



' Cosiiiotriche j^otaloria. 



Gastropacha querci folia. 



