The Drinker and the Lappet. 



JD/ 



about lour inclies in length, oi a dark-grey colour, anil thiekly clothed with hne, 

 short hair. Ah^ng the sides is a fringe of much longi'r and brown hairs. There 

 are two white marks on the back a little behind the head, and at tin- tail-end there 

 is a short, thick, horn-like elevation. Below the side fringe are the flesh\- lappets 

 which ha\e suggested the creature's name. It feeds upon blackthorn, hawthorn, 

 a})ple, and sallow. When it is feeding ui)on bushes whose 

 branches are more or less covered with lichens, it is said 

 sometimes to duplicate the white spots on the back, which 

 has the optical effect of breaking uj) its great bulk and 

 bringing it into closer harmony with its surroundings. 

 Like the drinker, the lappet-caterpillar hrst sees the light 

 in August, and only feeds for a lew weeks before seeking 

 retirement for the winter. It becomes active again in 

 spring, and is full grown in May or June, when it spins 

 a rather long, grey cocoon in which it uses its long hairs 

 to felt in with the silk. This is attached to the lower part 

 of the tree upon which it fed. The dark-brown chrysalis 

 IS covered with a sort of " bloom," due to the calcium 

 oxalate referred to in connection with the eggers, and it 

 pretty well fills the cocoon without having room for wriggling. 

 The moth is a night-llyer and is, therefore, seldom 

 seen on the wing ; but those who know what to look for 

 may find it at rest in the day-time sitting on a leaf. The 

 female measures three inches or more across the wings, 

 which are dark rust-colour suffused with purple and crossed 

 by several dark wavy lines, made up for the greater part 

 of small " halt moons." The outer margins of all the 

 wings are scalloped. The reason why it cannot be seen 

 easily wfien at rest is owing to a characteristic trick of 

 disposing its closed wdngs. The fore-wings are folded 

 along the sides and over the back to form a sort of span 

 roof, and the front margin of the hind-wings is brought 

 under them and ilattened out on the leaf. In consequence 

 we get a resemblance, not to a moth, but to a bunch of 

 withered leaves. This was probablv the earliest noticed 

 example of protective resemblance among Insects, and 

 the figure of the moth in its resting attituck' was familiar 



in natural history books long before an\bod\' thought of 



/',V./,. /)i] [//. .UoDi. F.E.S. 



Lappet-Caterpill.'\r. 



Ill this photograph the caterpillar 13 

 ;.liown of th" natural sizo. .'Mong 

 I he sides will be seen tlic lltshy folils 

 Ironi which the Insect gets its popular 



IKTUe. 



the imj)ortant part such resemblances pla\' in the struggle 

 for existence. Much the same trick is played by the rare 

 small la})pet.^ This moth escaped notice as a British species until the year 1832, 

 \\hen Mr. Atkinson, collecting on Cannock Chase, stooped to secure a small moth of 

 aiu)ther kind, and saw a dead leaf hanging from a bilberry bush. Something 

 about that supposed leaf arrested his att^Mition, and he examined it closely, with 

 the result thai the small laj)pet-moth was atlded to the list of IJiilish Insects. 



' Epicuaptcia ilicilolia. 



