LEPIDOPTERA. 85 



■will eat almost any kind of plant. After the female comes 

 out from the web, she lays her eggs all over it, and there 

 she remains. I must pass over, for want of space, the 

 ])retty Ermines, Eggars, Lackeys, and Drinkers, except to 

 say that the commonest and perhaps most beautiful of 

 the Ermines is the White Ermine {Spilosoma menthrastri) 

 so called on account of the resemblance of its covering 

 to the fur of the ermine, that the Egger moths take 

 their name from the oval shaped cocoons of the chry- 

 salis, that the Drinker {Odonestis potatoria) is so called 

 from the habit the caterpillar has of putting its mouth to 

 a dewdrop and sucking up the whole of it. I pass on to 

 notice a very curious moth, the Lappet (Gastropacha 

 qaercifolia), (Plate IIL Fig. 6),of a beautiful brownish red 

 or mahogany colour, marked with darker zig-zag trans- 

 verse lines. The hind margins of all the wings are 

 prettily and regularly scalloped, the antennae are beau- 

 tifully pectinated. The caterpillar is large and variable 

 in colour, grey or pale brown. There is a slight hump 

 on the twelfth segment, and the incisions between the 

 second and fourth segments are dark purple. It feeds 

 on the willow and blackthorn, and spins a black, firm 

 cocoon among the lower twigs. The perfect insect 

 appears in June and July. 



Above the Lappet, and to the right (Fig. 5) will be seen 

 a drawing of the richly marked Tiger-moth {Arctia caja), 

 common everywhere towards the end of summer. The 

 larva is of large size, with a great number of long white 

 hairs on the back, and dark brown hairs along the sides. 

 It feeds on various plants, and spins a loose hairy web 

 in July, in which it turns to a smooth, black chrysalis. 

 The Kentish Glory [Endvomis versicolor), a beautiful 



